more numerous than the first, aud not so well clothed. This
decrease, no douht, must be partly owing to the introduction
of spirits, to European diseases (even the milder ones of
which, as the measles,* prove very destructive), and to the
gradual extinction of the wild animals. It is said that numbers
of their children invariably perish in very early infancy
from the effects of their wandering life. As the difficulty of
procuring food increases, so must their wandering habits ;
and hence the population, without any apparent deaths from
famine, is repressed in a manner extremely sudden compared
to what happens in civilized countries, where the father
may add to his labour, without destroying his offspring.
Besides these several evident causes of destruction, there
appears to be some more mysterious agency generally at
work. Wherever the European has trod, death seems to
pursue the aboriginal. We may look to the wide extent of
the x\mericas, Polynesia, the Cape of Good Hope, and
Australia, and we shall find the same result. Nor is it the
white man alone, that thus acts the destroyer ; the Polynesian
of Malay extraction has in parts of the East Indian archipelago,
thus driven before him the dark-coloured native. The
varieties of man seem to act on each other ; in the same way
as different species of animals—the stronger always extirpating
the weaker. It was melancholy at New Zealand to
hear the fine energetic natives saying, they knew the land
was doomed to pass from their children. Every one has heard
of the inexplicable reduction of the population in the beautiful
and healthy island of Tahiti since the date of Captain Cook’s
voyages : although in that case we might have expected it
would have been otherwise ; for infanticide, which formerly
* I t is r em a rk a b le h ow th e s am e d isease is m o dified in d iffe re n t c lim ate s .
A t th e l i t t l e isla n d o f S t. H e le n a , th e in tro d u c tio n o f s c a r le t fev e r is
d r e a d e d as a p lag u e . I n som e c o u n trie s , fo re ig n ers a n d n a tiv e s a re as
d iffe re n tly a ffe c ted b y c e rta in co n ta g io u s disordci-s, a s if th e y h a d b e e n diffe
r e n t a n im a ls ; o f w h ic h fa c t some in sta n c e s h a v e o c c u rre d in C h ile ;
an d , a c co rd in g to H um b o ld t, in M ex ico . (P o li t. Essay o n K in g d om o f
N ew S p a in , vol. iv .)
521
prevailed to so extraordinary a degree, has ceased, and the
murderous wars have become less frequent.
The Rev. J. Williams, in his interesting work,* says, that
the first intercourse between natives and Europeans, “ is invariably
attended with the introduction of fever, dysentery,
or some other disease, which carries off numbers of the people.”
Again he affirms, “ It is certainly a fact, which cannot
be controverted, that most of the diseases which have
raged in the islands during my residence there, have been
introduced by ships ;t and what renders this fact remarkable
is, that there might be no appearance of disease among the
crew of the ship, which conveyed this destructive importation.”
This statement is not quite so extraordinary as it at
first appears; for several cases are on record of the most
malignant fevers having broken out, although the parties
themselves, who were the cause, were not affected. In the
early part of the reign of George III., a prisoner who had
been confined in a dungeon, was taken in a coach with
four constables before a magistrate; and, although the man
himself was not ill, the four constables died from a short
putrid fever; but the contagion extended to no others.
* N a r r a tiv e o f M is s io n a ry E n te rp r is e , p . 2 82.
t C a p ta in B e e c h e y (c h a p . iv ., vol. i.) s ta te s t h a t th e in h a b i t a n t s o f
P itc a irn I s la n d , a re firm ly co n v in c e d t h a t a fte r th e a rr iv a l o f e v e ry s h ip
th e y su ffe r c u ta n e o u s a n d o th e r d iso rd e rs . C a p ta in B e e c h e y a tt r ib u t e s
th is to th e c h a n g e o f d ie t d u r in g th e tim e o f th e v is it. D r . M a c c u llo c h
(W e s t e r n Isle s , vol. ii., p . 3 2) says, “ I t is a s se rte d , t h a t o n th e a rr iv a l o f
a s tr a n g e r ( a t S t. K ild a ) a ll th e in h a b ita n ts , in th e com m o n p h ra s e o lo g y ,
c a tc h a c o ld .” D r . M a cc u llo c h co n s id e rs th e w h o le case, a lth o u g h o fte n
p re v io u s ly affirmed, as lu d ic ro u s . H e a d d s , h ow e v e r, th a t “ th e q u e s tio n
was p u t by us to th e in h a b ita n ts w h o u n a n im o u s ly a g re e d in th e s to ry .”
I n V a n c o u v e r’s Voyage, th e r e is a som ew h a t s im ila r s ta tem e n t w ith re s p e c t
to O t a h e it e ; n o r a re th e s e ( a s I b e lie v e ) th e o n ly in s ta n c e s . H um b o ld t
( P o l i t . E s s ay o n K in g , o f N ew S p a in , v o l. iv .) says, th a t tb e g r e a t e p id em ic s
a t P a n am a a n d C a lla o a re “ m a rk e d ” b y t h e a rr iv a l o f sh ip s from C h ile , b e cau
se th e p e o p le from t h a t tem p e r a te reg io n , first e x p e rie n c e th e fa ta l
effects o f th e to r r id zo n e s. I m ay ad d , t h a t I h a v e h e a rd i t s ta te d in
S h ro p s h ir e , t h a t s h e ep , w h ich h a v e b e e n im p o r te d from vessels, a lth o u g h
th em s e lv e s in a h e a lth y c o n d itio n , i f p la c e d in th e same fo ld w ith o th e r s ,
f re q u e n tly p ro d u c e sick n e ss in th e flock.
iJ