RECENT LITERATURE.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 November 1922, Page 4

RECENT LITERATURE.

A DOCTOR IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA.

Dr Albert Schweitzer, the author ot “On the .Edge of the Primeval Forest,” is a native of Alsace, n musician and scholar of distinction, who formerly hold a post in the University of Strasbourg, and whose work had already won lor him a European reputation. Some years ago he abandoned his career in Europe in order to devote himself to the cause of hnum.iitv in Africa. He had been profoundly moved by the reports of the need for doctors in the French colonial possessions. Although a corps of medical officers was maintained in each of them, their duty was primarily to look after tile whites and troops. They had not time to attend to the natives. Dr Schweitzer felt that here was a sacred trust imposed upon Western civilisation, and lie resolved to do his part. Ho qualified as a doctor while his wife went through a course of training as a nurse, and in 1913 lie went out to French Congo, which seemed to lie' about the most promising field for his labours. He was formerly associated with the Paris Evangelical Mission, but ill's activities were international and undenominational. It was, lie declares, and is still, his conviction “that tiie humanitarian work to be done in the world should for its accomplishment call upon as us men, not as members of any particular nation or religious body.” His destination was the River Oto wo, a stream of which the reader | may possibly never have heard. Nevertheless, it is an immense waterway, or j rather a system of connected waterways, each of which is considerably longer than the Rhine. It flows bej tween impenetrable forests, and the ' scenery, although it impresses one at first bv reason of the tropical loxur- , inuce of the growth, is monotonous to ' a degree. The author mentions that i lie would shut his eyes for an’ hour at ; a time, and open them to see exactly what lie had seen before. From the | appearance of the banks the boat ( might not have moved a yard during ! the interval. This part of equatorial ! Africa- is as unhealthy as anywhere in tiie world. The annual death-rate , among tiie whites at Libreville, the capital of Gaboon, was some years ago ■ as high as 14 per cent., and tiie signiI ficanco of these figures can better lie appreciated when it is remembered I that the white population consists chiefly of males in the prime of life. Tilings have improved now to some extent, hut still tiie miasmatic river valleys of the Congo and Ogowe aro breeding grounds of pestilence and lever. I)r Schweitzer reached the scene of his labours, a place called Lnmbnroue, improvised a little hospital and waited for his patients. They were not slow in coming. Most people probably think of the American negro ns a hardy, healthy creature, who lives close to nature, is proof against the climate, and is consequently immune from the diseases which afflict tiie white man. This, however, is a great mistake. The native is anything but a healthy person. A diet, vegetarian in the main, lowers his power of resistant e, and deprives him ol stamina. Tuberculosis levies n frightful toll. Parasite diseases arc very prevalent. In that climate the slightest scratch is liable to become septic, hideous sores and ulcers arc very common, and there aro frequent den ills I'nnli gangrene. And most appalling of al! are the ravages of sleeping sickness. In Uganda this reduced the number of inhabitants in six years from 30!),(XK) to U’O.OOO. In the I'ppor Ogowe it was almost as had. The author knows of one village w hich had originally inhabitants. Two years ago rnly 51 Itt were lolt; l-he rest had died from sleeping sickness. Yet ft few years ago it was quite unknown m this part- ol Africa. Iho Europeans have been me unintentional instrument of its dissemination. As thev have opened up the continent their native crews and porters have moved from one district to another, and have spread the infection. I here is now a great licit in which sleeping sickness is endemic, extending from the Niger to the Zambesi, and irom the cast coast to tin. west. Will European science ever conquer this scourge asks the author. A cure lias been discovered. hut its efficacy depends upon the diagnosis of the disease in its earliest stages. Dr .Schweitzer describes liis "prn.ctiefi” in the forest, and an extremely interesting i-ocoicl it is. Rut lie docs not concern himself only witli his own work ; lie has a good deal to say about the problems and conditions of Eqtta- : torial Africa in general. Thus much i. heard now about the progress which Mohammedanism is making among the natives of Africa. From li is own oh- ! serrations, whiih arc continued hy the experience of French officials in this and other places, he is satisfied that its influence on the native is wholly reactionary and undesirable. “The Mohammedan negro,” said an official, who had served in half a dozen (bionics, “is no longer any good lor any- 1 thing. You may build him railways, dig hi in canals, spend hundreds ol i thousands of pounds to provide irrigation for the land he is to cultivate, hut- it all makes no impression on him; lie is absolutely and on principle op- , posed to everything European, however advantageous and profitable it may he. .Blit let a marabout—a travelling preacher of Islam—come into the village on his ambling horse, witli ; iis yellow cloak over his shoulders, ! then things begin to wake up. Everybody crowds round him and brings his savings in order to buy with hard cash [•harms against sickness, wounds, and snake-bite, against had spirits and had neighbours. Wherever the negro lopulatiou had turned Mohammedan .here is no progress, either socially or ?conomicallyAgain the author dis•iisscs native institiitiinis anil tieends several which the European, nniiquninted wiith (local circumstance's, vould most emphatically condemn, ilavcry, for example, is formally proiibiti>.i hy law, ,vct it exists under the osc, as the French authorities arc -veil aware. In many native establishiients the term “servant” is merely a npliemhs, Servants arc at tunlly laves. It is not uncommon for parnts to soil their children into slavery et their motive is one of humanity.

Equatorial Africa is, contrary to-gen-eral opinion, not naturally a rich place. The staples of existence—bananas, manioc, and yams—were introduced into Africa from tiie West Indies. Should a. c-rop fail the native lias nothing to fall back upon. Such failures are not infrequent in the poor country of the Upper Ogowe, and the parents sell their offspring down thr. river, simply in order that tiie latter may at any rate get something to cat. Polygamy again is repugnant to European ideas, yet, as thci author points out, it is closely hound tip yitli tile existing economic and social condjitions in Equatorial Africa. Society is organised on a sort of patriarchal basis. There is- no way in which a woman can earn tier own living. Her sphere is exclusively domestic; and there is no room for the unmarried woman, and if all the women are to he untried polygamy is necessary. To discourage polygamy among these people is. therefore, to undermine the structure of their society. “Have wo the right to do this if we are not also in a position to give them a new so cinl order which suits their own circumsta.nces P” Unfortuinatcfy space, does not allow reference to the author’s discussion of the labour problem, the liquor traffic. the problem of tho educated negro, and of other questions which perplex Africa. He asks himself, as many engaged in the uphill task have asked themselves, whether the coming of the white man lias been for the benefit of Africa Certainly it has not been an unmixed blessing. Rut on tiie whole he thinks that it has-been for good, and 1 hough there have been blunders . and grave abuses the conscience of civilisation lias awakened, and is endeavouring to repair thorn. But whoever seek ti help Africa, whether they be Government officials or missionaries, or humanitarian freelances, such as the author .they must, in his words, be met; who will'never lot themselves he dis couragod. -