PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ווי וווןווווו
Reference -
C.O. 885
?
20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
28
Not only so, but the whole subject of gotsello appeared to be intimately con- nected with what seems like a vague superstition in regard to the district of Thquamazuru, which for some reason had acquired an evil reputation.
The following will illustrate the character of the evidence bearing upon this question :-
Chief Mutibe, a young man about 25 years old, states:-
"I have often heard of the disease gotsello; it does not occur except among people who have visited the district of Thquamazuru, which for that reason is shunned by the Batawana."
Headman Nakedi, a man of middle age, states :—
I saw the man Masheana, and recognised that he was suffering from the disease gotsello, well known among us. It only attacks people who go into the district of Thquamazuru, and I have never heard of anyone getting it elsewhere. I myself went hunting in that district about twenty years ago. We were a party of about fifteen, and two of our number got sick while we were there and they died a year after with exactly the same symptoms. They wasted away, but their bellies' swelled. They slept constantly. These two cases and that of the man Masheana are the only ones of which I have per- sonal knowledge. When I was a young man a large number of my father's bushmen died of the same disease in that district. Formerly there were many Masarwa there, but now it is quite uninhabited.
It is full of game,
and there is much tsetse.' The district has a bad name among the Batawana, and I have heard that in the early days of our occupation many of our own people died of the same disease."
Headman Ramakoyana states :-
"I saw Masheana on his return to Tsao last year. He was sick, and had sores on his head and small swellings on his neck. I was told he had gotsello, but I did not notice that he slept much. I have often heard of the disease gotsello, and about ten years ago I saw a man who had it. He had been to the district of Thquamazuru. He slept a great deal, and would fall asleep with his mouth full when he was eating, The Batawana avoid that district, for it is very unhealthy, and all the Masarwa who once lived there died."
Headman Mahalakwe states :-
"I saw Masheana. He had got gotsello, a disease known well to the Batawana. I have seen two cases before, but that was many years ago; both the men who had it had been to the district of Thquamazuru. They used to sleep a great deal, and they wasted away though their bellies swelled. All the Batawana avoid that district on this account."
Headman Ramagatze remembers the two cases mentioned by last witness, and corroborates all his statements.
Sub-Chief Chookudu, a middle-aged man who represents the Chief Mutibe during the latter's absence, states :—
"I know about gotsello, but have not myself seen the disease. I have heard that in the early days many of the Batawana died from it, and also a great many Masarwa in the district of Thquamazuru. The Batawana rarely go to hunt in that part, because if they do some of them are sure to die on their return."
V.
A number of other witnesses were examined, and they all seemed to know about gotsello and its supposed connection with the particular district. It is curious, however, that none of the Europeans living in the country have ever heard of it before.
On mentioning it to Mr. Kelsall, one of the traders at Tsao, he kindly promised to make some independent inquiries among the people, and he informed me later that he had obtained practically the same story from all those whom he had ques- tioned on the subject, though previously he had never heard about it.
Native statements are notoriously vague and unreliable, but there can be no doubt of the following facts :-
(a) That there is a wasting disease known to the Batawana, the symptoms of which have suggested to them the name of gotsello, meaning "drowsi-
ness
29
(b) That, rightly or wrongly, this disease is associated in their minds with a
certain district.
Presuming that the disease which killed the man Masheana was the same as that with which the Batawana have long been familiar, it must mean that sleeping sickness (if it is really that disease) has been endemic in N'gamiland for many years. On the other hand, Masheana's case might be a recent importation of the disease, for the earlier cases mentioned might have been something quite different.
The question naturally presents itself: If gotsello is not sleeping sickness, what else can it be?
It is, of course, extremely difficult to express an opinion in regard to any disease without seeing the patient, and especially is this the case with sleeping sickness, which runs such an irregular course and presents no one pathognomonic symptom.
When a native states that a sick man sleeps a great deal, he may have nothing more in his mind than an ordinary lethargy which attends most illnesses and which would no doubt be well marked in anæmic patients suffering from malarial cachexia. I must confess, however, that the realistic account given uy some witnesses vividly recalled the exact conditions so often seen in cases of sleeping sickness.
In regard to the supposed connection between the disease and the district of Thquamazuru, it is difficult to reconcile it with our present ideas concerning sleeping sickness. The place is apparently uninhabited, and it is contrary to all previous experience that human beings should contract sleeping sickness, that is T. gambiense, in a country inhabited only by game. If such a thing was proved
to occur, it would be a most interesting scientific fact and would merit careful investigation. It is true our knowledge in regard to trypanosomes is extending, and several species or varieties of the parasite are now known. Thquamazuru is a very isolated one, surrounded on all sides by water, and prob- The district of ably there is little tendency on the part of game to migrate from it, and it is of course conceivable that there may be a variety of trypanosome infecting the game which is fatal to man by producing a disease very similar to sleeping sickness.
In this connection a statement made by the man Makobe, who accompanied Masheana, is of some interest. In the course of his evidence he stated that the district of Thquamazuru was a bad one, for even the game died there. When ques- tioned as to what he meant, he remarked that during their trip they found five mpala dead in the veld, and it was evident that they had not been killed but that they had died from disease.
If the disease gotsello is in reality sleeping sickness or some allied trypanosome infection, I should myself be more inclined to the view that it exists in an endemic form among the people who inhabit the Okovango Marshes. reaching the district of Thquamazuru, people might become infected at villages on In that case, before their way thither, but against this is the fact that the Batawana have no fear of travelling among the inhabited portions of the marshes, and in point of fact are frequently found hunting there.
As already mentioned I procured specimens of a species of tsetse (Glossina morsitans) in the vicinity of Masheana's village, and according to all the witnesses they are very numerous throughout the whole district of Thquamazuru, more than one of them using the expression that "it was the home of tsetse fly."
The country round Masheana's village is one in which we might reasonably expect to find Glossina palpalis for there is abundance of water and rank vegetation, and though I did not come across it, a much more systematic search would be necessary before its presence could be excluded.
VI.
It appears that there is a general idea prevalent among the Batawana that many of them died of gotsello shortly after the occupation of N'gamiland. If this is so the mortality is much more likely to have been due to malaria. Bechuanaland, taken as a whole, is not a malarial country, and even where it occurs it is of the benign tertian and quartan form.
In N'gamiland, on the contrary, tropical malaria is rife, and is as common, if not more so, than the ordinary mild forms. Mosquitos exist in myriads, and in many places the anophelina are the chief variety represented--other kinds being in the minority. It would, therefore, not be a matter for surprise if the Batawana suffered severely when they first settled in the country. The deaths among the Bushmen