I expected to find many cases of scurvy, due
to the brackish condition of the water and to the absence of
vegetables; but either scurvy did not exist to a great extent or
did not come under my observation, as during my stay I did not meet
with more than three or four cases. Fevers affect the natives after
a fall of rain, but though some cases are of a very pernicious type,
the majority belong to the simple intermittent or remittent, and
yield rapidly to a proper treatment.
Small-pox now and then makes fearful ravages. When it breaks out,
a mild case is chosen, and from it a great many are inoculated. The
mortality is considerable amongst those who submit to the operation.
On several occasions during the summer I received vaccine lymph,
and inoculated with it. In no case did it take; owing, I suppose,
to the extreme heat of the weather. During, the cold season I applied
again, but could not obtain any. The greatest mortality is due to
childbirth--a strange fact, as in the East confinements are generally
easy. The practice in use here has probably much to do with this
unfavourable result. After her confinement the woman is placed upon
an alga or small native bed; underneath which, fire with aromatic
herbs is so arranged as almost to suffocate the newly-delivered
woman. Diarrhoea was frequent during the summer of 1865, and
dysentery at the same period proved fatal to many.
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