92 
those ingredients; but for all that the fruit is delicious. І am great on 
mangoes; the turpentine taste is only just as you bite ч fruit ; as soon 
as you have got a fair grip you lose the initial bad flav 
The sour sop is a favourite fruit of mine, with its aid taste. І donot 
object to a pine-apple now and then. It would surprise you to see the 
mes Asie e knife a pine. I have half a dozen hanging in my 
randah n ; they are very nice. "The Niger region, as represented 
by t this distriet, is not a gay place at all. Nature wears a somewhat 
solemn face ; and there are not man y flowers wasting their sweetness on 
the desert air. There is a striking lack of both flowers and fruit. In 
out of the way shady, watered creeks and bush many beautiful flowers 
have their home, but these require searching and finding. I hope to 
make some contributions to Kew after I have * written my name " on 
the plantation. 
It is now Wednesday, March 26th. ч must try and finish your letter. 
Iam just a d busy now, having received 25,000 coffee and 10,000 
soa. You can have no idea how w densely stupid the average African 
is, and how inepta We is of reasoning from cause to effect. My 
plantation hands are from Lagos, and they know not the use of any tool. 
It is amusing to see them handle a spade for the first time. І have got 
them, or rather some of them, to turn a piece of ground something near 
the mark. Yet, for all like Mark Twain’s jumping frog, they have 
ous how quickly they succumb to slight wii It is 
not vsque altogether, as they lose their pay w when rking. A 
turning-to time I generally find half a ее o ask. more—siek 
men squatting on my теков. They all come to me when sick. I 
give them salts ay be on the principle that if it does them little good 
it also does little 
I have had a lot "of African fever since my arrival in this country, 
but I have never had a real knock-me-down attack. The fever is quick 
in its action. You feel heavy and tired; then you may or may not be 
taken with the cold stage, shivering and shaking, although the tempera- 
ture is over 90° in the shade. This for an hour, or several hours, an 
it =н passes off, leaving you in the hot stage. You are now 
t 
semi-unconscious state, and awake to find yourself beginning to perspire. 
The whole business is over in about four hours, but it leaves a man very 
weak. Last week I had the fever, as described, three days following. 
Н. E. BARTLETT. 
Royat Nicer Company to Rovar GARDENS, Kew. 
Surrey House, Victoria Embankment, W.C., 
DEAR os 11 July Б 
x copy letter from our Principal Medical Officer in 
the Niger Territories, giving анаи of the death of Мг. Н. Е. 
Bartlett. 
(Sigue) us Bora Nube Gon 
For the Royal N Company, 
Charte red and d. Limited. 
