THE TERRIBLE TSETSE

Evening Star, Issue 15074, 4 January 1913, Page 2

THE TERRIBLE TSETSE

A MID-AFRICAN MISSIONARY

TALKS ABOUT THE CONGO. A 'Star' reporter yesterday had an interview with Mr J. A. Clarke, -who went out from Scotland to the Southern Congo 14 years ago under the auspices of the Garanganze Mission, and has ever since been at work there. The mission is under the conduct of the Plymouth Brethren. ,

That ancient servant of the human race was the young missionary's only travelling auxiliary on his first journey inland fromthe coast at Benguella, in Portuguese West Africa, to Katanga, in Southern Belgian Congo. The docile beast of burden referred to was Shanks's ponv. The distance was 1,000 miles. —Opulent Natives.—

The natives throughout this stretch of country are called the Bambandu, and, especially near the coast, are very wealthy, as wealth goes in those, regions. They have got rich through trading in slaves, rubber, and ivory—three commodities .which grow there and are equally saleable. The slaves are sent mostly to the cocoa plantations on the Portuguese island of St. Thomas. The Republican Government of Portugal promised to abolish this trade, but have so far winked at it. —What a Railway Will Do.— It is projected to connect Lobito Bav, on the Portuguese West African Coast, "with Katanga, in the Southern Congo, and then Katanga with the Cape to Cairo railway. About 100 miles is alrea-dy completed. When the job is finished London will be 12 days by steamer and Pullman coach from the heart of Africa—lo by sea and 2 by rail. —The Sleep of Death.— The most awful circumstance of Congo life is the sleeping sickness, which has defied the combined effects of wealth and self-sacrifice to fathom its subtle secret. Along the main waterways, where it chiefly flourishes, it causes frightful ravages Populous villages are rendered desolate in an incredibly short time. Their inhabitants, enveloped in a sleep which is truly the sleep of death, die off like flies in later autamn. The dispenser of the dread germ of the uncanny sleep, as is generally known, is the tsetse fly. The tsetse fly will not cause the disease of itself. It is no special property of his construction. He is an unconscious agent, and must first get into touch with a victim of the maladv before he is himself dangerous. Theie ate districts where, the Hy is numerous, but there is no sleeping sickness. But there is no disnict wj,e-e there is sleenii."- sickness and no tsetse. The disease Is not catching as from man to man, and can only be . ommunicated Ly means of the fly. The fly bites the afflicted native, and becomes impregnated with the germs, i..,d then bites a person who is well. Presently tne latter gets intermittent attacks cf malarial fe™-. la lesj than two months an overpowering lethargy comes oa him, and presently the dread and fatal sleep steal* irrevocably over him, and another son of Ham is gone. The practice of-keeping the patient awake as long as possible though a hopeless labor, is lamely preVal ? nt i « They Punch him all °™r> and make loiid noises—they have long given up invoking their primitive gods on his behalf —but only keep him awake a little loneer. A remedy called atoxye, evolved by modern science, is effective, but only in the I early stages.

—Research and Palliatives.— There is very little known about the disease as vet. The Belgian Government have sent out several commissions, and at trie present, time there are a number in «k field The British have also investigators in Rhodesia. There are many drawbacks to combative work, notably the hue* area and untraveKibility of the comitrvl ine British authorities are adopting etringent palliative precautions against ilw spread of the infection. They have established Government stations along the borders of Northern Rhodesia to prevent its spread youth. A fly will not carry the diseae« far even if he travels, which is unlikely. It is nomadic natives who do the damage. The British also wisely SP ° that the bush is cut at crossing on thl , rivers-(the fly likes the brash), and effect tile removal of villages from infected arecs Eighty per cc.ni. of the disease could 1* checked it proper remedial measures were universal. —Circumstantial Evidence.— The Southern Cen-.ro natives blame the white, man for causing sleeping sickness be.c.".u6e tradition tells them Itrulv) that tho-o was none of it among ihem before the white man came. How that is is a long story, but, as shortly a* p»;sibl?. amounts to this : Not only w'ere the native* conservative before the advent of the pale face,, but because of intertribal differences did not and could not move far from one place. Travelling was not indulged in. When the white trader came, however, lie wanted men to go hero, there, and everywhere, and thus a disease which had hitherto been confined to a small area, in the upper readies of th-s Congo was spread throughout the land, and became, the curse of Contra] Africa.. So the native is at least casually Jogical. The germ is now as far afield as Salisbury, in Southern Rhodesia, near the coast! —The Real Offenders.— Asked it there were any "atrocities" taking place in South Congo. Mr Clarke gave a negative reply, and had praise for Belgian administration there. The only dark tilings done were by all sorts of ragamuffins, who came up from the south, where they ha.d become naturalised British subjects. They were in quest of rubber, and if not watched would get it by the shortest cut. The Belgians helped the mission all they could, even giving th-em free grants of land. .—The Work of tho Missioners.— The mission had 15 stations, many schools, and did hospital work. A great deal of evangelising was done, and there were many natives who had been converted, to God. Their conversion engenders in them a feeling of responsibility to their fellows, and numbers have gone out to tho villages, and are there maintaining testimony. Here the missionary drew"a distinction. "Ours,'' he said,'"is —Not a Christianising Attempt,— but a, work of regeneration by tho Spirit of God." They were just dealing with human nature und-er a black skin. That is the. primitive native. The native who has been in touch with civilisation is ever so much harder to reach. There is yet. another instance here of the demoralising effect of the white races on the black. The black man at first looks up to the white man as a sort of superior being, but presently gets a shock to find out what a tartar ho really is. Then the native sees down. —All Bad.— ' Mr Clarke was once asked why they taught that the native, was "as good as the white." He- replied that it wasn't a question of goodness, but a question of badness. Mentally and morally the native is inferior to the white man," but in the spiritual sphere there is fundamentally no difference. Both are bad. —Proverbs and Conceptions.— The. natives are fairly intelligent in the uncivilised sense, and some of their thousandsof proverbs are remarkably beautiful and full of sense. For example they say "Gcd gives beauty, but we must* help him." Their names for God are also significant. They call "him Shakapanga, which means "Father of Creation," and Leza, which in our language means "Great Nurse," All their names for the supreme being tell of his attributes as manifested in creation. They know nothing of him as a God of Love, ; —Language and Ideas. Their language has been given a hatitation and a name, so to put it, by Mr Clarke, who after 10 years labor has ready for publication a grammar of tho particular tribes of South Congo. Their vocabulary is very extensive and rich indeed, and they are masters of the memory mode of idea association. Kuvula is to tell, but mavula means leaves. An old chief explained that leaves are the tellers—they tell us the seasons. Again, kukola means to dig out, but rnukpla signifies river. The obsejyant old chief again explained that

the river was most assuredly a digger. V) "dug" its way down to the sea. Mr Clarke has made their spelling phonetic, and to suit their pronunciation has used up all the 26 letters of our alphabet, besides the Spanish " n," equivalent to the Maori " ng." —Maize Porridg'e.— The staple diet is maize, made into a stiff porridge, which they eat with a relish with antelope flesh. They are very clever in the bush, and will take meat out of a lion's mouth if very hungry. They make deadly use of old * flint-lock guns, which they got from the Portuguese. —Future Prospects.— Asked about the future of the vai-t Southern Congo region, Mr Clarke said that its prospects were bound up with its wonderful mineral resources. There is a tremendous amount of copper in the country, and this is sure to draw population. It is only in anticipation of development that the Belgians are constructing and contemplating big railway works. Thev are connecting Katanga, the capital, not only | with the Cape to Cairo Railway, but right I through to the Lualaba River, whence a, navigable waterway extends right to the west coast. Rubber has got a future in the north, where the climate suits, but in Southern Congo is a mere bagatelle as far as the future is concerned. The tsetse fly forbidfi its use ae an agricultural country. —Christianising Defined.— The reporter, in conclusion, asked Mr Clarke to define "Christianizing." He did go in the following terms:—lt is merely giving the natives a religion with outward ceremonies instead of presenting the person of Christ, who alone is sufficient to ea.vo and inspire hope. The affection of the. heart of man needs a person—not a thing.