01pmati~ *s severa,l higher than the height of a man’s person ;
the more confined the cleared area in which you stand
is, the more unhealthy is your position. Begin at the
narrow foot-wide path, with the grass from two to five
feet above your head, with a hot sun glowing burn-
ingly on the earth, and your position will be unendurable
if you stand still long. Advance into j a small
open market-place in its midst, relief is instantly felt.
But could you suppose that you had an area of a few
square miles ef plain, or gently-rolling land, without
swamp, lagoon, or stagnant body of water, that the
dead grass was clean cleared off, and only vegetables
and grain growing, that your two-storied house was
prepared with windows to admit light, and could likewise
admit the cool air without admitting draught, and
that the roof projected broad and ample from its walls,
your consequent good health would then teach you,
and teach the coming generations, that a tropic home
can he made asjiealthy and as comfortable as any home
in your own dear native land.
Observe the native custom, and let the dark aborigine
teach you by- his example. Do you, therefore, as
one should expect from your education, improve your
surroundings after the elementary lesson derived from
his example has been well acquired.
. In what part of the Congo canon do we find a
native village after passing Mussuko ? Let us cast our
eyes on the chart. All the way from Mussuko both
hanks are abandoned. On the shores of that expansion
of the Congo called Stanley Pool, we find Kintamo,
Kinshassa, Kimbangu,. Kimpoko, Mfwa, and Malima,
but these are peopled by ivory traders who have climate—
business with the Wy-yanzi River men. Near Mswata
are the first evidences of population ; but as far up as
the boundaries of Bolobo district the people are hut
scanty ' in number along the river. The highland
levels are more or less inhabited according to the
advantages offered by the neighbourhood, such as
accessibility to water, fertility of soil, presence of shade,
and security from violence. Their weak numbers, and
their dread of stronger neighbours, have left many
things undone that a sanitary inspector would condemn
as a neglect cruel to themselves and their families. So
long, however, as choice was permitted to them, we
observe that they have elected to leave the river and
its banks, and build on the high, comparatively open
plateau and plain.
At Banza Manteka, for instance, we have an illustration
of the manner in which the natives have rejected
the unhealthy hollow, and the curious contrast; of the
white map’s choice. All around, and within view from
the white man’s mission-house, are the groves under
which nestle the native villages. There is only one
native village within the, hollow; but the white man’s
house is almost at the bottom, as though he might be in
possession of a pharm to drive away the foul air and
gases exhaling from that, close inland basin. Experience
•has'proved that , his charms," his potion and . his drugs
will not avail the" white man to contend against such
deadly influences,: any more than the fetish absurdities
availed the black man in his efforts to live there.