They wear clothes when they can get them; their food is different; they indulge in spirituous liquors, and they are alternately enjoying some of the comforts introduced by the colonists and resorting to their original customs—at one time too warmly clad perhaps, at another time lying out in the bush, exposed to all weathers—not taking any such precautions as they would have taken when in their natural state. A native living in the wilds of the bush, and uncontaminated by contact with the whites, was probably as healthy as any of the animals that he chased. If he survived the accidents of childhood, and did not break down under the trying ordeal through which he had to pass on being "made a young man," he was for the rest of his life almost invulnerable to the indigenous diseases of his country. That the natives were hardy is unquestionable. Sir Thomas Mitchell says that one "freezing night the natives stript off all their clothes (their usual custom) previous to lying down to sleep in the open air, their bodies being doubled round a few burning reeds."[1] And this at a time when the earth was white with a hoar-frost.
All that can be collected now relating to diseases bears no reference to the time when the blacks were in a state of nature, and must consequently be received with caution. I have shown elsewhere that a native rapidly recovers from wounds that would prove fatal to men of other races, and this appears to me to be inconsistent with the statement that they are naturally of a weak constitution and of inferior vitality.
"The principal diseases," says Mr. Taplin, "to which these [the Narrinyeri] tribes of Aborigines are subject are of a scrofulous nature. The tendency to tuberculosis is seen in childhood in the form of tabes mesenterica, and sometimes of hydrocephalus. Towards the age of puberty it is developed as pulmonary consumption. Sometimes it is carried off before the age of puberty by induration and ulceration of the glands of the neck. The above are the most fatal diseases amongst the Narrinyeri; the majority of deaths are caused by them. The other diseases to which they are subject are liver complaint, diarrhœa, and dysentery, and, rarely, brain fever. I have never known a case of intermittent fever amongst them. Of course they are subject to inflammation of the bowels, kidneys, liver, lungs, and throat. . . . . I have never known a native to have the measles. This disease has at different times prevailed amongst the whites; but the blacks, although constantly about the dwellings of those laboring under it, never caught it. . . . . I have never known a case of scarlatina amongst the Aborigines, although it was very prevalent some years ago amongst the whites; and I have reason to believe that a great deal of clothing from houses infected by the disease was given to the natives. The natives are very subject to epidemic influenza, which they call nruwi."[2]
The Rev. Mr. Bulmer informs me in a letter that the diseases most prevalent amongst the blacks are rheumatism of the joints, bronchitis and other affections of the lungs, dysentery, and syphilis. No doubt, he says, their mode of living
- ↑ Eastern Australia, vol. II, p. 144.
- ↑ The Narrinyeri, p. 32.
