1840.] DISEASES. 335 



smuotbjy on, filling each heart with new-born gladness and 



The extremes of temperature during the year are from 58° 

 to 100°, in the shade. The nights are cool, frequently even 

 when no dew falls. la the summer months the heat con- 

 tinues very intense for many days in succession, but it is 

 often moderated during some part of the day by the delicious 

 sea breezes. 



Colds, coughs, influenza, and acute diseases of the lungs, 

 are quite prevalent. Ulcerous affections and rheumatism — 

 the latter being principally confined to the women — are not- 

 uncommon. Cases of syphilis are exceedingly rare, and 

 fevers are unknown. Elephantiasis does not prevail to any 

 great extent. There is a singular disease, resembling syph- 

 ilis, called by the natives dthoke, which is supposed to be 

 peculiar to these islands. It attacks both children and 

 adults, and commences with rheumatic pains and swellings, 

 followed by the appearance of ulcerous pustules on the body. 

 If the eruptions do not appear, or dry up too soon, the disease 

 is pretty sure to terminate fatally. 



All the ordinary productions of tropical climes may be 

 found in the Feejee Group. Among the larger trees are the 

 bread-fruit, cocoa, toa, or casuarina ; several varieties of 

 palms ; a species of pine called dackui, resembling the kauri 

 of New Zealand ; the hibiscus tiliacus, pandanus, tamanu, 

 rata, or native chestnut, plantain, banana, and Carica pa- 

 paya. There are nine different kinds of bread-fruit, and three 

 of cocoas, but all resemble one another in their general prop- 

 erties. The value o£ the annual product of these two trees 

 alone must be enormous : they furnish the native with 

 bread and clothing, and from them also he obtains a great 

 proportion of the materials for his habitation. The cocoa 

 does not flourish very well above the elevation of six hundred 

 feet; but below that level its luxuriance of growth is unsur- 

 passed. Besides the ordinary preparations of the bread-fruit, 

 the natives scrape off the rind, and pack it in earthen jars, 

 or bury it in pits lined with banana leaves and covered with 



