The Ruwenzori Mountains 



purpose will be dangerous. The suggestion of spraying 

 chlorine gas over the vegetation on either bank from a barge 

 on the river, may then be tried as a likely means of destrojdng 

 the dangerous Palpalis tsetse fly, the carrier of the fatal 

 germ. 



The Belgian post of Mbeni, situated on the outskirts 

 of the Semliki forest, is some two hours away from the 

 hospital. Here again are evidences of the under-staffing 

 so noticeable in the Congo of to-day, for the work of this 

 important station — the centre of a well-populated district 

 and of a brisk trade in ivory, is carried out by one man. 

 One cannot help admiring some of these men, administering 

 single-handed, as they do, a district as large as two of our 

 biggest counties. Alone amidst utterly savage tribes, the 

 nearest helping hand perhaps fifty miles away, they carry 

 on, undertaking every conceivable task from drill-sergeant 

 to maternity doctor. 



This one-man-to-do-everything method has become a 

 joke in the Congo about which a yarn is told of a certain 

 Belgian Chef de Paste who happened to have lost an eye and 

 was accustomed to wear a glass one in its place. This 

 man was in sole command of a big district and his work of 

 tax-collecting took him away from home. In his absence 

 his house and effects were of course left in charge of his 

 native servants, with the usual result in such cases that a 

 considerable amount of petty thieving went on in his absence. 

 For a time he was at a loss to know how to stop this, but 

 realising the superstitious nature of the savage, it occurred 

 to him one day when he was about to leave the station 

 that he would travel without his glass eye, and instead he 

 would place it in a prominent position within his house. 



131 



