202 diseases. [1839. 



bargain, and the people of Savaii would dc .10 discredit, in 

 this respect, to the land of wooden nutmegs and cucumber 

 seeds. 



Fevers and syphilitic complaints are very rare on these 

 islands. The diseases to which the inhabitants are subject, 

 are generally of a sporadic character. The most prevalent 

 are dysentery, caries, catarrh, and bronchial disorders. Oph- 

 thalmia is often produced by the heat of the sun reflected 

 from the sand. Elephantiasis, — which is here attributed to 

 eating food without salt, drinking cocoa-nut water, exposure 

 at night, and want of exercise, — is also quite common. 

 Children are very liable to an eruptive complaint, called 

 ilumea, which breaks out on their heads. The only remedy 

 which the natives had for disease, besides bathing, was sham- 

 pooing ; but since the missionaries appeared among them, 

 they have been supplied with proper medicines as far as was 

 possible, and have received better medical attendance. 



It has been well doubted whether any living language 

 could be properly regarded as the parent stock of the Poly- 

 nesian.* The language of the Samoan Group is, doubtless, 

 a branch of the Malay ; but it has so many features analo- 

 gous to other tongues and dialects, that it would require all 

 the credulity of Lord Kingsborough to reconcile them. It is 

 constructed like the Tahitian, though it is smoother, soft it. 

 more flexible, and not so easily spoken. It is the only Poly- 

 nesian language in which the sound of s is heard. Notwith- 

 standing the resemblance, in its construction, to that of the 

 Society Islands, the inhabitants of that group and theSamoans 

 cannot understand each other. 



The maro was, originally, almost the only article of cloth- 

 ing worn by the natives ; and it is now the ordinary dress of 

 the common people, being well adapted for active exercise, 

 not cumbersome, light, easily made, and easily renewed. It 

 is constructed of the leaves of the ti, (draccena,) which are 

 sometimes slit, and thus form a short petticoat. It is worn 

 about the loins and between the thighs, so as to conceal the 



* Crawford's Indian Archipelago Vol. II p. SO, et seq. 



