develop an astonishing speed. I think that this is
the only muscle-power railroad in the world. Light engines are employed
for hauling the palm fruit trains.

After our day in the field--for frequently we took our lunch with us--we
returned before sunset and bathed and dressed for dinner. In the Congo
only a madman would take a cold plunge. The most healthful immersion is
in tepid water. More than one Englishman has paid the penalty with his
life, by continuing his traditional cold bath in the tropics. This
reminds me of a significant fact in connection with colonization.
Everyone must admit that the Briton is the best colonizer in the world.
One reason is that he knows how to rule the man of colour for he does it
with fairness and firmness. Another lies in the fact that he not only
keeps himself clean but he makes his environment sanitary.

There is a tradition that the Constitution follows the flag. I contend
that with the Englishman the bath-tub precedes the code of law and what
is more important, it is in daily use. There are a good many bath-tubs
in the Congo but they are employed principally as receptacles for food
supplies and soiled linen.

Those evenings at Alberta were as unforgettable as their setting. Braham
and Wallace were not only men of the world but they had read extensively
and had travelled much. A wide range of subjects came under discussion
at that hospitable table whose spotless linen and soft shaded lights
were more reminiscent of London and New York than suggestive of a
far-away post on the Congo River on the edge of the wilderness.

At Alberta as elsewhere, the "H. C. B." is a moral force. Each area has
a doctor and a hospital. No detail of its medical work is more vital to
the productive life of the Colony that the inoculation of the natives
against sleeping sickness. This dread disease is the scourge of the
Congo and every year takes toll of hundreds of thousands of natives. Nor
is the white man immune. I saw a Belgian official dying of this
loathsome malady in a hospital at Matadi and I shall never forget his
ravings. The last stage of the illness is always a period when the
victim becomes demented. The greatest boon that could possibly be held
out for Central Africa today would be the prevention of sleeping
sickness.

Another constructive work carried out under the auspices of the "H. C.
B." is embodied in the native schools. There is an excellent one at
Alberta. It is conducted by the