This page needs to be proofread.
THE PRESENT EVOLUTION OF MAN—PHYSICAL
291
"Consumption is prevalent to a most disastrous extent among the races of the Southern Pacific. We have more particular accounts for Fiji and Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and Hawaii (Honolulu). In New Caledonia the death-rate from consumption among the Kanakas is estimated at two-fifths of the mortality from all causes. Almost all the authorities are of opinion that the great prevalence of the malady in these islands dates from the time when the natives began to come into more intimate relation with European immigrants, and therewith to make considerable changes in their mode of life; and that opinion is borne out by the fact, that in the Hawaian Islands, where phthisis at the present time commits great ravages among the natives, it was of rare occurrence forty or fifty years ago. On the other hand, it follows from Wilson's account (1806) of the state of health in Tahiti, that phthisis had been widely prevalent in that group as early as the beginning of the century; and there are accounts to the same effect from the Tonga group, New Caledonia, and other of the Archipelagoes of Polynesia."—Hirsch, vol. iii. p. 187.
"In New Zealand phthisis has made frightful ravages among the Maoris, and has been one of the chief causes of the gradual extinction of that race."—Ibid. p. 188.
"On Nossi Be also the malady is not uncommon among the coloured races, particularly the Kaffirs. In Madagascar and Mayotte it is as common as in Europe, and rapidly fatal, as it mostly is in the tropics. In Zanzibar, Lostalot did not happen to see many cases, but it is said to be especially common among the Arabian women of the higher class."—Ibid. p. 189.
"In Cape Colony phthisis is oftenest met with among the Hottentots inhabiting the plains nearest the coast; in other classes of the population it is much rarer than in the East African islands, within the tropics just spoken of; while on the interior plateau of Southern Africa it hardly occurs at all. There is a lack of information of a trustworthy kind as to the state of health on