PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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Reference
C.O.885
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19 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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II. The Conditions found in the Congo and their bearing upon the question of allowing Natives of North-Eastern Rhodesia to cross into the Congo.
I left Fort Jameson in July, 1907, and proceeded to Madona, on the Luapula River. Here I found a large clearing had been made on the bank of the river, but beyond this little else had been done towards the establishment of a medical post. Madona is a small township about 38 miles from Fort Rosebery, situated on the right bank of the Luapula, which, at that point, is between five and six hundred yards wide. Its raison d'être" is the agency of the Tanganyika Concessions, Limited, through which some 20,000 natives pass per annum to Kambove and Ruwe for labour and transport. All the natives are paid by the agent on their return to Madona, and this trade alone supports no less than three stores. The white popu- lation is four. The prohibition of all communication with the Congo resulted in the accumulation at Madona and elsewhere, of many thousands of loads for Kambove, bringing the commercial interests of the place to a complete standstill. These and many other pressing questions required the immediate attention of the Administra- tion, and as they all turned on the question of communication with the Congo, I decided to go there first and ascertain:—
(1) How far the endemic areas had extended since 1905.
(2) At what points we might expect the infection to be carried from the
endemic areas into North-Eastern Rhodesia.
(3) Whether any natives from North-Eastern Rhodesia were employed in the
endemic areas.
(4) If a route could be found between Madona and Kambove along which transport might he conducted free of risk to the natives engaged in it. Dr. Sheffield Neave was at that time investigating sleeping sickness in the Katanga country (Congo), and as the results of his work were most important from our point of view as aflecting a large number of our natives then working in the Katanga, I thought it most desirable to meet him if possible, and discuss with him the possi- bilities of labour and transport being resumed with the uninfected parts of the mining area. He was then working on Lake Mweru, and proceeding there from Madona I met him at Kalungwisi. As a result of his observations Dr. Neave was able to give me much valuable information, and he assured me that all mining work had been stopped in the endemic areas, and the natives working there withdrawn; that there were no natives from North-Eastern Rhodesia working in the endemic areas, and the two cases of sleeping sickness found among these natives were under treatment; that the cases of sleeping sickness found at Kambove were all imported cases from distant parts, and that no infection could possibly take place at Kambove as no condition to bring about infection existed there. On the subject of transport and labour, he thought it might safely be resumed with the uninfected parts of Katanga south of the endemic areas, provided crossings could be found free from Glossina palpalis on the Luapula and Lufira Rivers. He assured me that such a crossing could be found on the Lufira River to the south of the old crossing at Koni Hill. He, however, reserved a definite opinion on these matters until his work was completed. I crossed the lake to Lukonzolwa, and there met M. le Représentant du Comité Spécial du Katanga, who courteously expressed on behalf of the Comité Spécial his desire to assist and co-operate with the Adminis- He tration of North-Eastern Rhodesia in checking the spread of the disease. informed me that Dr. Neave had found cases of sleeping sickness at Kasenga, on the Luapula River, at Kilwa, Lukonzolwa, and Pweto, on Lake Mweru, and that the whole of the Belgian side of the lake had Glossina palpalis on its shores. I pro- ceeded to Lukafu and learned from M. le Chef de Secteur there that Glossina palpalis had been found on the River Lukafu close to the station, and cases of sleeping sickness in the neighbourhood. From there I went to the Koni Hill cross- ing, on the Lufira, where Glossina palpalis was plentiful, and thence to Kambove. I there interviewed the joint Managers of L'Union Minière du haut Katanga and the Tanganyika Concessions. Limited, and arranged with them the conditions under which the transport, if allowed, would have to be conducted. They were briefly:
(1) That no transport would be allowed beyond Kamlove, and natives were not to be detained there longer than was necessary to be examined by a medical officer and receive their passes to return to Madona
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(2) That they should not cross the Lufira at Koni Hill, but at a crossing
to Le selected free from Glossina palpalis.
(3) That capitaos should be stationed on the route to ensure the carriers keeping to the prescrived route, and food stations erected to avoid their going into the villages to buy food.
(4) All natives engaged on the transport to be examined by the medical
officers on arrival at Kambove and Madona.
These conditions of transport were made in reference only to those loads accumulat ing in North-Eastern Rhodesia, the result of the transport Leing stopped in April, 1907, and no guarantee was given that any transport could be carried on through North-Eastern Rhodesia after these loads had been sent through, and on this under- standing all further transport vià North-Eastern Rhodesia has been stopped by cable. Lalour from North-Eastern Rhodesia I did not discuss, as there was not sufficient guarantee that it was free from risk. On these conditions being agreed to and signed by the Managers, I returned to Madona by the proposed new route. was able to confirm Dr. Neave's observation that the Kapolowe crossing on the Lufira was free from Glossina palpalis, and after examining carefully the whole route. I found it free from every condition known to constitute the factors con- cerned in the spread of sleeping sickness. I say "known to constitute" because Glossina morsitans is freely distributed along this route. Whether this fly conveys sleeping sickness or not is not definitely known. While evidence could be furnished to show that it does not, the point is one not worth considering in the framing of measures for the prevention of the spread of sleeping sickness-its widespread distribution, and the shifting nature of its belts, rendering all such measures (short of total destruction of the Hy itself) useless. I arrived at Madona in September to find that the Comité Spécial had made, on our representation, a clearing on their side of the Luapula 400 yards long by 200 broad, corresponding to the one made on our side. Dr. Storrs had in the meantime arrived at Madona and taken up his duties as medical officer. My visit to the Congo resulted in the following observa- tions embodied in a report to the Administrator:-
1. Since 1905 sleeping sickness has spread rapidly in the Congo Free State mainly along the rivers forming the extension south of the Congo basin, viz., the Luapula, the Lualaba, and the Lufira, and has now appeared as far south as Kasenga, on the Luapula, Lukafu, on the Lukafu, and Busanga, on the Lualabá. A line drawn east and west through these places, and extended to the Luapula, marks the southern limit of the infected areas in the Congo, and as Glossina palpalis is not found south of this line (except on the Luapula), the disease is not likely to spread further south. Kambove and Ruwe are situated on high plateau country well to the south of this line, consequently sleeping sickness cannot be contracted at either of these places; moreover, the infected regions to the north of this line are shut off from the uninfected area on the south by a formidable natural barrier in the form of an uninhabited plateau running east and west just south of the line, from the Lualaba to the Lufira, and thence in a south-easterly direction towards the Luapula. I crossed this plateau twice, once between Mweru and Lukafu, and again between Kambove and Madona, and on Loth occasions found it quite uninhabited. The disease has thus extended to the borders of North-East- ern Rhodesia, and has appeared at Moliro, Pweto, Lukonzolwa, Kilwa, and Kasanga, and from these points it may be expected to make its appearance in North-Eastern Rhodesia, especially at Lake Mweru and Lake Tanganyika, where the disease would spread by direct extension along the shores of these lakes.
2. There are thus three points at which the discase might be expected to make its appearance in North-Eastern Rhodesia, viz. :—
(1) Lake Mweru.-The infection here, as already mentioned, would be a direct extension of the Pweto infection conveyed by Glossina palpalis on the lake shore.
(2) Lake Tanganyika in the same way, by direct extension from Moliro and
other places on the lake shore."
(3) The Luapula River. The disease would be conveyed here from the infected areas of the Lualaba and Lufira along the trade route between Lukafu and Kasenga-the latter place being a place of call for the steamer from Lake Mweru where loads are delivered for dis- The cases found at tribution in the "haut" Luapula districts.