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BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
quantities of produce here and there from the natives which they will re-sell 
in large amounts to the European firms and agencies. 
The remainder of the European settlers will be rather planters than traders, 
disposing likewise of their produce to the commercial companies in British 
Central Africa. Originally when there was very little or no cash in the country 
every planter had likewise to be a trader on a small scale as all labourers 
were paid in trade goods, and all the food that he bought from the natives was 
purchased in the same manner. Now the country is full of cash, and in many 
districts the natives refuse to accept any payment except in money, preferring to 
go to the principal stores and make their purchases there. To a certain extent, 
moreover, money payments are now compulsory between European employers 
and their native employes ; moreover a planter often objects to taking out a 
trading licence and prefers instead to relinquish his small commerce in this respect. 
Briefly stated, the only serious drawback to British Central Africa as a 
field of enterprise for trader or planter is malarial fever, either in its 
ordinary form, or in its severest type which is commonly known as black- 
water fever. I shall have a few words to say about this malady further on. 
AN IVORY CARAVAN ARRIVING AT KOTAKOTA 
The advantages are, at the present time, that land is cheap; the country 
is almost everywhere well watered by perennial streams, and by a reasonable 
rainfall; the scenery is beautiful in many of the upland districts; the climate 
is delicious—seldom too hot and often cold and pleasant; there is an abundance 
of cheap native labour; transport, though offering certain difficulties inherent 
in all undeveloped parts of Africa, is growing far easier and cheaper than in 
Central South Africa, as the Shire river is navigable at all times of the year, 
except for about 80 miles of its course, and Lake Nyasa is an inland sea with 
a shore line of something like 800 miles. Moreover, the cost of simple articles 
of food such as oxen, goats or sheep, or of antelopes and other big game, 
poultry, eggs, and milk is cheap, together with the prices of a few vegetables 
like potatoes or grain like Indian corn; and all the European goods are not so 
expensive as they would be in the interior of Australia, in Central South Africa, 
or in the interior of South America because of the relative cheapness of 
transport from the coast and of the very low Customs duties. 
To sum up the question, I might state with truth that but for malarial fever 
this country would be an earthly paradise ; the “ but ” however is a very big one. 
Whether the development of medical science will enable us to find the same 
antidote to malarial fever as we have found for small-pox in vaccination, 
or whether drugs will be discovered which will make the treatment of the 
disease and recovery therefrom almost certain, remains to be seen. If however 
