With Precautions, In The Rivers And On The S.W. Coast Your
Touch Of Fever May Be A Thing Inferior In Danger And Discomfort To A
Bad Cold In England.
Yet remember, before you elect to cast your lot in with the West
Coasters, that 85 per cent.
Of them die of fever or return home with
their health permanently wrecked. Also remember that there is no
getting acclimatised to the Coast. There are, it is true, a few men
out there who, although they have been resident in West Africa for
years, have never had fever, but you can count them up on the
fingers of one hand. There is another class who have been out for
twelve months at a time, and have not had a touch of fever; these
you want the fingers of your two hands to count, but no more. By
far the largest class is the third, which is made up of those who
have a slight dose of fever once a fortnight, and some day,
apparently for no extra reason, get a heavy dose and die of it. A
very considerable class is the fourth - those who die within a
fortnight to a month of going ashore.
The fate of a man depends solely on his power of resisting the so-
called malaria, not in his system becoming inured to it. The first
class of men that I have cited have some unknown element in their
constitutions that renders them immune. With the second class the
power of resistance is great, and can be renewed from time to time
by a spell home in a European climate.
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