Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1912-11-09

merous and speak Bantu dialect Of
which nothing much IL known ct pres
ent, and they have MS yet no written
language, no European having ever
lived among them. found them in 1899
very wild and shy, owing to the I'm.
welcome visits OF Belgian soldiers, and
with difficulty persuaded one or two
to lead me for an hour or so into the
great forest. On the same occasion
pygmies were not To be seen, having
fed south for the same purpose of
avoiding the attentions of uncontrolled
police!
THE other cannibal tribe, the Bagi-
su, inhabit the slopes of Mount El.
gon, where they are crowded together
in comparatively small area of fer
tile country which they have brought
to high degree of cultivation. The
clan system is well developed among
them and its regulations rigidly OBJ
served. Each clan for the most part
occupies strip of country running
down from the foothills OF Elgon, and
to that strip it is obliged to keep for
all purposes"
The sleeping sickness, many cases
of which came under Mr. Kitchings
personal observation is graphically de-
scribed:
From this place Qganga) we went
to visit one of the sleeping sickness
camFs. at a place called Buso, some
two miles away. The horrors of the
disease had been aggravated by the
famine; in spite of all efforts on the
Part of the doctor in charge, food was
almost impossible except in small
quantities, and with FIVE hundred pa.
tieuts in the camp large supplies were
needed to give each even a little.
Deaths at the time were running
up to seventy or even ninety In a
month; az we passed from ward TO
ward we saw the corpse of man who
had just died lying in the courtyard
awaiting the doctors orders for bu-
rial. In every direction sat groups Of
hope ess sufferers in different stages
of the disease and various degrees Of
starvation, mere skeletons many Of
them, barely able TO crawl about
"As if disease and famine were not
had defied all the efforts to extermin-
ate them, and the feet of many pa.
tents, especially the children, were
IN u horrible condition of liberation
Some of the less afflicted patients, still
In early stages of the disease were en-
gagged in the unpleasant duty of re-
moving the jiggers and dressing the
feet of those too weak to do it for
themselves. Those comparatively
slrope ones lived in huts by them
selves, only the more advanced cases
being taken into the wards.
Fresh cases were constantly being
in the hammock on the way to the
caail and his bearers had commenced
to bury him on the roadside but he
sat up In the grave and was brought
on. When we saw him he was able
to walk about, better food having no
Gnlbt done much to temporarily re-
store him.
One Of the saddest sights was the
house set apart for the reception Of
patients in whom the disease induced
mania; there is great fear with such
cases that they may set fire to the
camp either deliberately or by acct
dent. during the night. SO they are
made 10 sleep In place entirely with
out windows, and which can be secure
" locked IN during the hours of dark
ness. One such house into which !
went at another camp, in Buganda.
was occupied by perhaps fifteen such
pnfortunates; as they were mostly in
the advanced stages of sleeping sick
ness, they probably suffered little,
at all, being unconscious practically
all the time"