The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1909-05-02


Hon. Winston Spencer Churchill, Brit
lsh minister of colonies, of his ex-
petition In British East Africa traces
almost step by step the route 10 be
followed by the Roosevelt party. Dur
ing his trip Mr.. Churchilis servant
succnmbed TO a mysterious and swift
~ fatal fever. but the minister and
the other TWO white men who ac-
eompanied him suffered no i'll effects
from their equatorial journey.
According 10 Mr.. Churchills obser-
Vations. il would seem that by far
the most interesting portion of the
Roosevelt trip will be through the
Uganda Protectorate, where travel
is by foot, bicycle or caravan, unless
enc elects 10 ride upon seat borne
on the shoulders of natives. The
Uganda Railroad contrary to the sug-
gestion of its name, does not pene-
trate Uganda. but only reaches TO Ii,
its inland terminus being at Port
Florence. on Lake Victoria. Not
until the railroad has been left be-
hind and the party enters Uganda
proper. the garden of flowers and
butterflies. will the supremest posi-
bilities of the exploration be real
lied. Sinister beasts there are with
out number, but the forests that con-
ceal them are of SURPRISING grandeur
and the foliage of indescribable
beauty. The natives are friendly,
gentle of manner and of considerable
intelligence. The air is soft and
cool ct the contrast between ap-
pearance and reality is striking, for
this enchanted land is cursed with
malignant attributes. Every white
man seems to feel sense of in
definable oppression, and Mr.. Church
i'll says it will never be a white
mans country. "A cut will not heal;
a scratch testers. In the third year
of residence even small wound be-
comes a running sore. One day a
man feels perfectly we'll; the next:
for no apparent cause, he is pros
trate with malaria, and with malaria
of peculiarly persistent kind, turn
ing often in the third or fourth at
tack TO blackwater fever" A daily
dose of ten grains of quinine served
10 ward off malaria in the case OF the
Churchill party.
The impression gained from Mr..
Churchill's writings is that the trav-
eler has less TO fear from the fero-
cious beasts that inhabit the allur-
ingly beautiful Businesses than from
the fever transmitted from the tsetse-
fly, which. when infected in a manner
yet undetermined by scientists, be-
comes deadly assassin. But the
zone of tsetse-fiy is known: his home
is I'm the trees and bushes and near
the water, and he may be avoided.
Thus the danger from this source,
broadly speaking, may be said to be
proportinate with the risk the ex-
Dlorer voluntarily assumes in the
pursuit of his explorations. allowance
being made always for bad judgment
and the unexpected fortunes of the
hunt. Then there are leg-long boots,
gloves that reach to the elbows and
wells to completely protect the head
and neck. Mosquito netting inclos-
es the camper at night, and in the
morning he habitually empties his
boots of any undesirable tenant that
may have wiggled in under the cover
of darkness. In the case of the
Roosevelt party Major Edgar A..
Mearns will always be at hand with
his antiseptics.
But. however handicapped the
tsetse-fly may be in the future pur-
suit OF his nefarious calling. his
assassinations of the past are worthy
of record. According TO Mr.. Church
i'll. this deadly insect first appeared
in the Kingdom of Uganda in the
summer of 1901, and within five
years had killed two out of three
of all the inhabitants. no less than
100000 persons dying from the
poison which he spread. 1T might
have been expected" wrote Sir II.
Hesketh Bell, the Governor of
Uganda, TO Mr.. Churchill in reply
TO a query on the subject, that,
even though the negroes showed in
ability 10 grasp the theory OF the
transmission of disease by the agen-
cy of insects. the undeniably dead
illness of the countries bordering on
the lake shore would have induced
them TO fee from the stricken land
and 10 have sought In the healthier
districts inland a refuge from the
pestilence that was staying them by
thousands. An extraordinary fatal
ism, however. seems to have paralyz-
ed the natives. and while deplorine
the sadness or their fate, they appear
to have accepted death with apathy
But the helplissness of the natives
has given place to the knowledge OF
the white man before which the
tsetse-fy has fallen back, and the
sleeping sickness. IL not conquered
is less TO be feared than a few years
ago. Miles of brush, fertile breeding
places of disease. have been cut
away. and in It place is growing the
vigorous citronella grass.
But Ii will be some time before the
party reaches Uganda and for the first
six months headquarters will be at
Nairobi. from which point number
less excursions will be made. Nairobi
Ia th- eanffaI af the Easf India Pro-