Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

Jan. 1836. extinction of aborigines. 521 prevailed to so extraordinary a degree, has ceased, and the murderous wars have become less frequent. The Rev. J. Wilhams, in his interesting work,* says, that the first intercourse between natives and Europeans, " is in- variably attended with the introduction of fever, dysentery, or some other disease, which carries off numbers of the peo- ple." Again he affirms, " It is certainly a fact, which can- not 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 importa- tion." 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. * Narrative of Missionary Enterprise, p. 282. t Captain Beechey (chap, iv., vol. i.) states that the inhabitants of Pitcairn Island, are firmly convinced that after the arrival of every ship they suiFer cutaneous and other disorders. Captain Beechey attributes this to the change of diet during the time of the visit. Dr. MaccuUoch (Western Isles, vol. ii., p. 32) says, " It is asserted, that on the arrival of a stranger (at St. Kilda) all the inhabitants, in the common phraseology, catch a cold." Dr. MaccuUoch considers the whole case, although often previously affirmed, as ludicrous. He adds, however, that " the question was put by us to the inhabitants who unanimously agreed in the story." In Vancouver's Voyage, there is a somewhat similar statement with respect to Otaheite : nor are these (as I believe) the only instances. Humboldt (Polit. Essay on King, of New Spain, vol. iv.) says, that the great epidemics at Panama and Callao are " marked" by the arrival of ships from Chile, be- cause the people from that temperate region, first experience the fatal effects of the torrid zones. I may add, that I have heard it stated in Shropshire, that sheep, which have been imported from vessels, although themselves in a healthy condition, if placed in the same fold with others, frequently produce sickness in the flock.