Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-05-03
Jn1aA A Tow1z AT Tit, 1ouReE. OF The ME-

Sesse Island and has had hundreds OF
patients. but, as l understand II, 30 far
no radical cure has been found. AZ one
time DIR. Koch thought he had discov-
cred a remedy. 1t was to fill the patient
with arsenic. This counteracted the dis
ease, but the trouble was that the arsenic
usually killed the patient. IL is said that
certain .antidotes for the arsenic have
now been found, and 1t may be that BY
means of them the patients can be kept
alive until they can get rid OF the arsenic
taken into their system to kill the bacilu.
It Bites the Hippopotami.
very serious matter with regard to
this sickness Is the. report that tine fiy
is now inoculating the hippopctami and
crocodiles which are found everywhere
about this lake. They bite the hippos
under the lobe Of the ear where the skin
is thin and the microbes are thus intro
duced into the blood. SO that every ~
which feeds upon that hippo thereafter
becomes inoculated. ! understand that
the hippo has many thin veins OF blood
running through its thick skin and that
this source of infection is serious. As to
the crocodiles they are bitten under the
neck or between the scales. i do not
vOuch for these facts, but give them for
what they are worth.
In the meantime the British have e.
tablished sleeping sickness hospitals at
different places about the lake. and they
nave Also segregation Ca ulpS. Nnen a VII
lage gets the sickness they put those who
have been bitten of by themselves IN
mosquito-proof houses and keep the others
apart until they are sure whether they
have been inoculated or not. The chief
trouble is right down on the shores Of the
lake, as 1t Is said the fy will not 60 but
a few hundred steps away from II. The
people. however. who have their villages
on the shores are stubborn: They say
their fathers lived there, and there they
will live and die
Among the islands which have been
seriously affected by the sleeping sickness
are those belonging to the Sesse archi-
pelago. These lie some distance south Of
Uganda. and are reached by canoes or
other small boats from the mainland.
They are beautiful islands. covered with
grass and woods. and until recently q
great part Of them was well cultivated.
1t is there that DIR. Koch's sleeping sick
ness hospital was.
The people of the Sesse. islands are no.
torious for their secret society OF Ghouis
known as the Bachichi The members OF
this society eat the dead. and their prac-
tice is SO well known that the Christian
natives keep watch for eight days after
burial over the graves of their fellows who
have passed away. There are branches
of the society Id, Uganda. and the custom
is said to be common in other places. II Is
said that the ghouls OF the Sesse Islands
sometimes carry sick people OF into the
bushes and knock them on the head I'm
order that they may be the sooner fitted
for the table.
DR.. Cunningham. who lived long In
Uganda, states that the Sssse people
when they put away their dead wrap
then in shrouds of bark cloth and then
lay them on a wooden frame above
ground far of In the forests and do not
visit them again. The presumption IL
that they will be taken care OF by the
society Ny Tanganyika friend says that
the bodies are usually eaten by the FAM
ily and relatives of the deceased. and
Sir Harry Johnston. In his book on Ugan-
da. speaks of a Sesse Islander who killed
his wife on the wedding night because
she refused to cook the thigh OF q man
buried the night before. which he had dug
up to celebrate their marriage supper.
FRANK G. CARPENTER