The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-03-18
A TRIP
TO AFRICA

Washington, March 1.-THE &C
count given by the Right Hon. Wins
| ton Spencer Churchill, British Minis
ter of Colonies, of his expedition in
British East Africa a almost
| step by step the route to be followed
by the Roosevelt party. During his
trip, Mr.. Churchill's English servant
succumbed to aNmysterious and swift
~ fatal fever, but the minister and the
other two white men who accompan-
led him suffered no i'll effects from
their equatorial journey.
According to Mr.. OhurchiN's obser-
vations, it would seem that by far the
most interesting portions of the ROOse
| welt trip will be through the Uganda
Protectorate, where travel is by foot,
bicycle or unless n elects
to ride upon a seat borne on the shout
| ders of natives. The Uganda Railroad,
contrary to the suggestion Of the
name, does not penetrate Uganda, but
only reaches to it, it's inland terminus
being at Port Florence, on Lake Vic
toria. Not until the railroad has been
left behind and the party enters Ugan
Ia proper, the garden of flowers and
butterflies, will the supremest posi-
bilities CT the exploration be realized.
Sinister beasts there are without mum
Der, but the forests that conceal them
are of surprising grandeur and the
foliage of indescribabIe beauty. The
| natives are friendly, gentle OF manner
and of considerable Intelligence. The
| air is soft and cool. Yet the contrast
between appearance and reality is
striking, for this enchanted land is
cursed with malignant attributes. Ev-
cry white man seems to feel a sense
of undefinable oppression, and Mn
Churchill says that it will never be
a white mans country. "a cut will
not heal; a scratch testers. In the
third year of residence even a small
wound becomes 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 a peculiarly persistent kind turning
often in the third or fourth attack to
blackwater fever" A daily dose of
ter grains of %quinine served to ward
off malaria in the case of the Churc-
hill party.
The impression gained from Mr..
Churchill's writing is that the travel
er, has less to fear. from the ferociols
beasts that inhabit the alluringly beau
tiful Businesses than from b fever
transmitted by the tsetse-fly, which,
when infected in a manner yet unde-
ter1nined by scientists, becomes a
deadly assassin. But the zone of the
tsetse-1y is known; his home is in
the trees and bushes and neal the wa
ter, and he may be avoided. Thus
the danger from this source, broadly
speaking may be said to be proportion
ate with the risk which the explorer
voluntarily assumes in the pursuit of
his explorations, allowance being al
ways made for bad Judgment and the
unexpected fortunes of the hunt.
Then there are leg-long boots, gloves
that reach to the elbow n wells to
completely protect the head and neck
Mosquito netting incloses the camper
at night, and in the morning he ha-
Ibitually empties his boots OF n Ill
desirable tenant that may have wrig-
gled in under the v of darkness.
In the case of the Roosevelt party Ma
jor Edgar "A. Mearns, will he always
at hand with his a~ntiseptics.
But, however handicapped the tse-
tse-fly nay be in the future pursuit of
his nefarious calling, his assassina-
tions of the past are worthy of record.
According to Mr.. Churchill, this dead
ly insect first appeared in the king
dom of Ugranda In the summer of
1901, and within five years had killed
no less than 100000 persons dying
from the poison which he spread. cit
might have been expected" wrote
Sir H.. Hesketh Bell. the Governor OF
Ugranda, to Mr.. Churchill, in reply o
a query on the subject, that, wen
though the negroes showed inability
to grasp the theory of the transmits
sion of the disease by the agency of
the insects, the undeniable deadliness
of the countries bordering on the lake
shore would have induced them to fee
from the SfrinEQn 1on1 and IN houn