THE MOSQUITO

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 46, 1 September 1928, Page 15

THE MOSQUITO

The poor Batwa peoplo of Africa, if they only know it, have a chance of becoming great among the benefactors of mankind. . ■ . ...... ■:•.•■• . The Batwas aro a tribe.of Northern Rhodesia, so far from being warlike that long ago they, took .refuge in . a swamp, where oven the. most ferocious. j of African warriors thought it unwise i to follow them. Ciouds of mosquitoes j rose up from the swamp, rising above the men's heads liko a pillar of cloud by day and stinging them liko a pillar of fire by -night. The Batwas were never fighters,-and the' Lukagna mosquitoes always were. With their little lances they could,.hold up .an-invad-ing army armed with assegai and knobkerry. Even tanks and poison gas would not make- much way-with theso pests. t Whether it has been through long association between tho Batwas and the mosquito, or whether the Batwa has some peculiar oil or smell about his skin that mosquitoes do not fancy, the • fact remains that the Batwa can go about' his business quite fearless- of tho insects. Tho ordinary mosquito makes no impression <m the Batwa; the female malarial mosquito either floes not bite him or does not infect him. At any rate, thero is no malaria aniong tho Batwas. In other ways life is not so easy for these poor black men. They live chiefly on fish, and for hours will stand'patiently, spear in hand, waiting for passing barbel in the reeds of the water lanes, while tho mosquitoes siiig a merry song round their dark heads. Their other food appears to be a thick porridge, which they make from flour pounded from the dried roots of tho water lily. A tedious and precarious, existence; but if the rest of tup world-had their secret millions would sleep more restfully in their beds without the mosquito curtains that .are needed from Labrador 3 the Baltic, from Venice to Vladivostok, and nearly everywhere except in a few favoured islands."