Liberia ^ 



The indigenous Negroes of Liberia compared with those of 

 other parts of Africa are distinctly a healthy and wholesome- 

 looking people, nearly always of fine physique. Amongst the 

 diseases recorded in the medical treatment of natives on the coast 

 or at no o;reat distance in the interior are : (i) Gastric and 



377. PATTERN INSCRIBED 

 ON BACK OF VAI 



WOMAN 



PATTERN INSCRIBED 

 ON BACK OF VAI 

 WOMAN 



379. CICATRISATION ON 

 BACK OF KPWESI 



MAN 



intestinal diseases (chiefly diarrhoea and dysentery) ; (2) 

 respiratory diseases (pneumonia and pleurisy) ; (3) muscular 

 rheumatism ; (4) diseases of the genital organs ; ' (5) skin 



' 1 should say compared with other parts of Africa that the Liberian peoples 

 were as yet singularly free from what has been a curse and a cause of depopulation 

 in many other parts of Afiica — I mean syphilis, a disease certainly introduced into 

 Africa by the Caucasian in the first place, the principal agencies being the European 

 sailor or soldier from the coast and the Arab or Muhammadanised Negro merchant 



980 



