288 TEE CONGO.
vexatious “ little fevers,” at that' station than at any
other. The third most unhealthy station is Leopoldville,
though during the last year there has been a decided
improvement in it. But if our old-fashioned ideas of the
cause of fever were correct, it should have presented a
much cleaner health-bill than several of the stations on
the Upper Congo, some of which are situate only about
ten feet above high water, with perhaps many hundred
square miles of black fat loam or damp forest on three
sides of it. Yet to despatch debilitated persons from
Leopoldville to these upper stations, in apparently unhealthy
situations had the same effect as sending them
to a sanatorium of established repute. Young Glave,
of Yorkshire, while at Leopoldville, is seen gradually
becoming cadaverous, his form becomes less and less
rigid and upright; his pallid face, white lips, and dark
lines under the eyes, warn us that he -undergoes the
strange vicissitudes common and necessary to unfledged
Europeans. At his own request he is commissioned to
build a station at Lukolela, and the change in two months
is simply astounding—he becomes at least three stone
heavier in weight, living light is in the eyes, his form
is pliant, vigorous, his movement quick; his every
action betokens ' lusty young life. Lieut. Liebrichts, at
Leopoldville, is a subject creating great anxiety to me.
I whisper my suspicion to the medical man in charge,
that this is another unfit case for Africa. Suggestions!
-are not wanting, but the doctor is-himself inclined to
•'despair. He is taken to Bolobo on my way to Stanley
Falls. My return dowu river is haunted by a- fear that
INQUIRY INTO SICKNESS. 289
bad news of him await me there, instead of which 8/ Climate—
magnificent specimen of manhood greets me, and after
a wondering gaze from all of us on the steamers,
something in the tone and manner remind us of our
sure-to-he buried friend. Why, it is Liebrichts himself,
a hearty, sleek man, who has a strong grasp, and a
bright cheery welcome to all of us.
Mr. Swinburne, one of the “ faithful” among the
expedition, is always ailing, ulcerous or feverish continually,
a t . Yivi, Manyanga, or Le'opoldville ; . but
being dispatched to Kinshassa on Stanley Pool, only
five miles above Leopoldville, he lives eighteen months,
to my knowledge, without.a single attack of indisposition—
a constant marvel to his friends, that a low-
lying station like Kinshassa can preserve such a man
alive and well.
. Lieutenants Yangele and Coquilhat, the builders of
Equator Station, and the vanguard of the Europeans
on the Upper , Congo, each time we visit them, are
;anxiously asked, “ What of the climate ? ”
“ Splendid !” the gallant young officers cry. “ Nothing
could be better. Do not trouble yourself about
us; give us a little coffee or tea, and enough to have a
petit m re occasionally for o u r café noir—that is all we
want; our own gardens produce all the rest. As for
health, we two ought to satisfy any one of the salubrity
of this region.” -
When I examine the muster-roll of those along
the Upper Congo since 1882, I find there have been
twenty-nine Europeans, above, Le'opoldville, out of
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