Belgian Congo 15 CLIMATE ; HEALTH ; RACE and south , where the somewhat scanty records all indi cate less than 50 inches ( 1,270 mm . ) . Except in close proximity to the Equator there is everywhere a well marked dry season , and little rain falls between May and September. In the northern parts of the region there is a doublemaximum , but in the south this becomes much less pronounced.

(4) SANITARY CONDITIONS Sleeping-sickness and malaria are the most serious diseases of the Belgian Congo.

Sleeping-sickness has, at one time or other, ravaged most parts of the Belgian Congo, and has probably caused a great reduction of its population . The only districts which appear to be safe are those situated at a height of over 4,000 feet above sea level. Both natives and Europeans are liable to malaria , which is probably the chief cause of the high infant mortality which prevails.

Tick fever, filaria infection (the cause of elephan tiasis), and jigger lesions are all common among the native population, while blackwater fever, which is generally recognized to be a sequel of neglected malaria, is met with . Pulmonary diseases cause many deaths among the natives, and among other diseases may be mentioned small-pox, which has at various times ravaged parts of the Congo, venereal troubles, which appear to be common , dysentery, and affections of the skin .

(5) RACE AND LANGUAGE Race The population consists almost entirely of Bantu negroes, similar in race to the natives of both South and West Africa. Along the northern boundary , south