But he is not a man to be easily daunted. To-day Irebu is as spick and span and as beautiful as he first conceived it. The benefit that accrues to the natives as well as to the whites from so well-built and arranged a station is shown by the change that has occurred in the health of Irebu. One of Jeuniaux’s first cares was to make the place sanitary. Now, since he built the station, _i. e._, in the five years since summer, 1899, there have been only two deaths among the whites,—although their number has been increased,—and of these one was a case of sunstroke, the other one probably of deliberate intent to die by disobeying orders during an illness on receipt of bad news. Since 1901 there has not been one death among Europeans. The mortality rate among the soldiers has decreased to 14 per 1000 average, and for the current year to 12 per 1000, or a fraction under. And this despite the fact that the sudden change in their mode of life when they enter military service must be a severe strain on the recruits, and also that Irebu, lying at the junction of waterways, is constantly having dumped down in it cases of infectious diseases, which are discovered on the river steamers, and which are put ashore at the nearest station. Now, I mention all this about the building of Irebu, not simply to glorify Commandant Jeuniaux, but because the work that has been done there, the difficulties he has had to contend with and has overcome, the result that has been achieved, are identical with what every commandant has met with in each of the beautiful stations that you will find in the Middle Congo. Each of these represents the personal exertion of one individual, and their existence is eloquent testimony to the ability and devotion with which the State is served by its servants. _Mrs. M. French Sheldon_ Mrs. French Sheldon, the traveller and author, returned to Europe in December, 1904, after a tour through the Congo Free State. I have witnessed [she says] more atrocities in London streets than I have seen in the Congo, which remark applies to the rubber country as well as the rest of the State. I travelled through every part of the country, and am convinced that the allegations of maladministration are groundless. Wherever I went I found the natives treated with kindness and consideration, while the improvements in the condition of the land and its inhabitants are almost incredible. FOOTNOTES: [47] The Commissary-General of New Antwerp. CHAPTER XXXVI THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES