The new era., 1910-07-07
SYZHon ANO C2G4YHc REe4S7

~ WCol NOoSe VI
scorpions and snakes are
everywhere-in ones shoes.
In ones bed. At Lambarene
was writing some letters to
send by native canoe to the coast to
catch the European steamer. l was
seated on the veranda Of the post
Overhead was a towering franglpanl
tree. its blossoms beautiful and heavy
with perfume. Before me stretched
the Ogowe river. Natives passed in
their dug-out canoes, their paddles
hardly disturbing the surface of the
water. Suddenly something snapped
pushed back my chair. On the ground
crawling at my feet was cobra, one
OF the most venomous snakes In the
world, There is no antidote for Its
sting. My servant had seen the
snake swing Itself from the Towering
tree and poise its body ready to
spring. He quickly Ieaped for the
branch of the tree on which the snake
was poised and snapped it on. The
snake was thrown violently to the
ground and soon dispatched.
was pushing my canoe out from the
bank Suddenly he disappeared.
When he reappeared he was minus
his leg from his knee down. croc-
odile had bitten 1t OF.
1t is an ordinary occurrence for a
leopard to steal native child from
a camp fire around which many adults
are smoking and talking.
Wild animals can be guarded
against. But there is no escape from
insects and vermin. They spell just
plain hell for the white man. Reaches
ny and are as rayenous as jackals
They eat ones clothing. and devour
even corks of bottles.
White ants are also exceedingly
voracious. What looks like sturdy
fallen tree proves to be only mere
shell. 1t has been eaten out by white
ants.
The Driver ants are the scavengers
Of the jungle. Unlike the white ants
they eat only fatty matter. had
brood after brood of wild chickens
eaten by these tiny insects. They
have been known to sting to death
Dick their bones as clean as any vul
ure or jackal. Woe to the man who
awakens not at their first sting. He
never wakens again.
These ants travel In colonies
amounting to millions. 1t takes days
~or a colony. to pass a given point
they travel very quickly and always
lave an objective point. They have
generals, captains and guards. and
their march is businesslike and In
.elligent. They dig bitches and build
bridges and tunnels. They make
straight for their goal-a dead animal
Aome palm oil nuts. a chicken house
1r sleeping human beings Every time
hey entered my bungalow l had tc
move out, for they never leave until
hey devour every bit of fatty matter
Their sting is frightful. but after they
nave gone the house or parts of the
Jungle visited by them is thoroughly
and sanitarily cleansed.
Dangerous as they are to men and
animals, they have their uses. There
s only one effective way to fight then
and to turn them aside. That is, by
OhASA
up by torches of flaming bamboo. The
work is tedious The little red-browr
creatures turn away helter skelter
only to line up and resume theil
march as though nothing had hap
pened. They return again and again
and unless the fire is there to check
them they succeed in making their in
ended raid.
There is chance Of recovery from
Malaria, blackwater fever. smallpox
and even leprosy. but In the districts
.ufested with the tsetse fly, once inoc
ulated with the germs of sleep sick
ess, there is no cure.
A horrid thing! have seen natives
'ie blinking In the torrid sun, eater
almost alive with insects and hungry
cut they haven't the energy to move
nut of the sun. to chase away the in
.ects or to reach out or ask for food
pith eyes sinking deeper day by day
nto their sockets, with flesh disap
pearinx and bones appearing. they
imply fade into eternity.
Although every government with
ossessions In Africa has sent ou,
minent bacteriologists TO try to learr
4omething of this dreadful malady y
ct very little has been learned. ex
.ept that 1t IL absolutely fatal ant
nat . white man is liable to inicc