below, situate oighty-thvoo feet above the river. At
Equator Station, with a river only five feet below its
foundations, creeks sable as ink surrounding it, the
ground unctuous with black fat alluvium, Europeans
enjoy better health than at Manyanga, 240 feet above
river, and 1100 feet above the sea. Fourteen miles
away from Manyanga, and eight miles removed from
the river, we have a station on the plain of Ngombi,
1500 feet above the sea, where our people have enjoyed
better health than at Manyanga Hill, 150 yards in
diameter, and ravines 200.feet deep are around it on
all sides, except at a narrow neck thirty yards across.
Banana Point (six degrees below the Equator) only
five feet above the brackish water of its creek, is
proved to be much healthier than Sierra Leone, over
eio-ht decrees north, which has been O o ' called the “ white
man’s grave,” despite the number of medical inspectors
who have employed their best judgment and experience
in endeavouring to modify the fatal influences that
seem to surround the latter place. But the residents
of that colony may now know by studying the diagrams
diront*-—
Pw4 IL
of the preceding chapter, that the fearful sickness
which has frequently decimated the European
inhabitants has not been due so much to the malaria as
to the fact that their town is surrounded by the
Lion Hill and its hilly neighbours, between the gaps
of which sweep the sea breezes, suddenly chilling thé
bodies of people who are enveloped by the close heat
engendered within its bowl-like position.
I have been so frequently rebuffed by the callous indifference
of those I had hoped to save, that my interest
in the preservation of life has become briefer, much less
acute, and not so universal as it was formerly. For I
may well ask, why should I be anxious about the health
of a person who is utterly indifferent to it himself?
Why should I care whether people prefer to lounge in
draughty corners to cool their heated bodies, whether
they fire their brains with alcoholic liquors, or wear
little saucer-shaped caps, and invite the equatorial sun
to scorch their heads ? In Congo-land, as elsewhere, a
man may do as he pleases with his own person; and
if he be disposed to blow his brains right out of his
head, Heaven knows I should be tempted to agree with
him, that after all it would be the wisest plan. To
such, however, as love their duty even better’ than
they love, their life, my remarks may tend to preserve
that life for the performance of that duty, and
possibly may also tend to stimulate an endeavour to
discover other causes that are deleterious to health, to
be followed by the discovery of methods reforming
the medical treatment now pursued with such poor
success.
Our doctors would also do well to study what are
the best foods required by those who live in the tropies.
A fertile physiological field for exploration and dis-
covery lies in this direction. I would gladly essay to
attempt something in this line were I not convinced
that a medico, blessed with a little common sense,
might write with greater authority. Personally. I
would wish to impress a few things upon the mind
VOL. II. T
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