CO885-(20-21) — Page 34

*

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

ستسائلي

C.O.

Reference :-

885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

24

dated the 6th instant,* in which the Royal Society recommends that a conference should be held in order to concert measures to prevent the spread of sleeping sickness.

2. I now have the honour to report that your Lordship's wishes in this respect were anticipated, a conference consisting of Sir David Bruce, the Principal Medical Officers of both Protectorates, the Veterinary Officer, and the Heads of various De- partments having been held at Nairobi on April 26th to 30th. The proceedings

have been summarised and published in the local press, but as soon as a detailed report reaches me I shall have the honour to forward it for your Lordship's information.

19626

I have, &c.,

STANLEY C. TOMKINS,

Acting Governor.

No. 12. UGANDA.

COLONIAL OFFICE to THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

Downing Street, 19 June, 1909.

GENTLEMEN,

I AM directed by the Earl of Crewe to transmit to you, in continuation of the letter from this office of the 7th of May,† the accompanying copy of a despatch from the Officer Administering the Government of Uganda, in which he reports that a conference to concert measures to prevent the spread of sleeping sickness was held at Nairobi from the 26th to the 30th of April last.

I am, &c.,

24765

No. 13.

H. BERTRAM COX.

BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR SOUTH AFRICA to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(No. 433.) MY LORD,

(Received 24 July, 1909.)

Government House, Cape Town, July 3rd, 1909. WITH reference to Lord Selborne's despatch, No. 222 of April 10th,§ I have the honour to transmit to you a copy of a despatch from the Resident Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, covering a complete report by Dr. Moffat on the suspected outbreak of sleeping sickness in N'gamiland.

MY LORD,

I have, &c.,

WALTER HELY-HUTCHINSON,

Enclosure in No. 13.

High Commissioner.

Resident Commisioner's Office, Mafeking, 9th June, 1909. WITH further reference to Your Excellency's despatch, No. 55 of the 2nd of March last, I have the honour to enclose a report from Dr. Moffat on his recent visit to N'gamiland to investigate a case of supposed sleeping sickness.

2. The collection of flies made by Dr. Moffat has been sent to the Director of the Natural History Museum, Kensington.

I have, &c.,

F. W. PANZERA,

Resident Commisioner.

£5

REPORT ON Suspected Outbreak of SleepiING SICKNESS IN N'GAMILAND.

By R. U. Moffat, C.M.G., M.D.

I. Introduction.

In order to render the following report intelligible it is necessary to make a few explanatory observations in regard to the natural features of N'gamiland and its inhabitants. The Batawana Reserve, comprising the major portion of the country, is roughly divided by Lake N'gami and the Botletle River into two parts— a northern and a southern. The latter, from the point of view of the subject in question, is of slight importance, being for six months of the year little else than a wilderness inhabited only by a few wandering bushmen. These primitive people, subsisting chiefly upon game and roots, obtain a scanty supply of water sufficient for their needs from scattered wells and pits known for the most part only to them- selves. Otherwise no permanent water exists away from the Botletle River, and in the dry season this part of the country can only be described as a desert unfit for human habitation-vast open plains alternating with patches of thick, low scrub. With the advent of the rains a complete transformation occurs. plains are covered with grass, the trees and bushes are green, while water is found abundantly in the numerous shallow depressions called "pans," some of these being extensive enough to merit the title of lakes.

The

At this season the conditions in regard to moisture and vegetation are in certain localities such as would render the latter suitable as a habitat for tsetse fly. sidering the reverse state of things which obtains for half the year, it is, however, Con- not a matter for surprise that so far as is known no species of Glossina exists in that region, and there need be little fear of the introduction of any trypanosome disease into the Southern Protectorate along that route.

The northern part of the Batawana Reserve, that is to say, that which lies between Lake N'gami and the Chobe River, differs entirely from that already described. It is a well-watered, well-wooded, fertile tract of country, which has been compared, not inaptly, with the Nile Delta. waters of which are in Portuguese West Africa, enters N'gamiland at its north- The Okovango River, the head western corner and very shortly after loses its strictly river character by debouching into the so-called Okovango Marshes. Owing to the extreme flatness of the country the waters which issue out of these marshes spread out in all directions, forming a network of swampy streams which intersect the country in all directions. One of

the largest of these eventually becomes the Tamelekan River, which, serving as a drain, finally collects all that remains of this volume of water into one stream which, when joined by the lake-river, forms the Botletle. This after flowing in an easterly direction loses itelf in the *great Magarigari Pan. The Botletle River is therefore the drain which carries off most of the water of the Okovango Marshes, though a certain amount finds its way out by the Mogohela and Machabe rivers into the Mababe Marshes further north. These swampy streams of this region are in of normal rainfall subjected to two separate floods. The first of these is caused by years the local rain during the summer months, while later on, when this has subsided, the Okovango Marshes again fill up as a result of the arrival of the flood waters of the Okovango River, caused by the rains which fall at its head waters in Portuguese West Africa. Owing to the distance which has to be traversed and the slight fall countered, this does not occur until the middle of winter.

As a result of this state of things, it comes about that this part of N'gamiland is provided with a network of practically perennial streams, the vicinity of which, being well-wooded, would form an excellent habitat for Glossina-more especially the species palpalis.

The inhabitants of N'gamiland are of mixed origin and include the following tribes:-

Batawana.

Masarwa.

Basabia.

Bakubwa.

Banaja.

Damara.

The Batawana, the ruling tribe, are a branch of the Bamangwato, who migrated from Northern Bechuanaland nearly a century ago. and subjugated its inhabitants, whom they reduced to the position of serfs. The They occupied N'gamiland

* There is another smaller pan named Makarikar (or Magarigari) not far from Chukutsa.-F.W.P.

• No. 10.

↑ EF. transmitting copy of No 10.

‡ No. 11.

§ 14766: not printed,

16996

D

His Excellency

The High Commissioner, Johannesburg.

26