212 



in its Southern province of Higney, occasionally visited by the Caribs, no 

 invasion of the pestilence had probably occurred within several years 

 previous to the discovery. Columbus appears to have become "acclimated" 

 through an attack contracted on board of his vessel in 1494, on the coast 

 of Higney. The first general epidemic, however, only broke out in Hispaniola 

 in the year of 1495, when it destroyed the majority of the Spaniards and 

 also one-third of the indigenous population. After that occurrence the 

 disease must have taken a permanent footing on the island, continuing 

 thereafter to exhibit the same alterations and to produce the same immu- 

 nities that it does at present in these islands. 



4. The island of Cuba, notwithstanding its proximity to the point of 

 infection, enjoyed a remarkable exemption, due, perhaps, in some measure 

 to its milder climate, during the first hundred years that followed its 

 colonization in 1511. In 1620, many deaths occurred in Havana, from 

 June to November, in consequence of "pernicious or malignant fevers", 

 which also attacked the shipping, having been, probably, imported from 

 Terra-firme or Vera Cruz by the Flota de Indias. In 1649, the pestilence was 

 again introduced and extended over the whole island, destroying one-third 

 of its inhabitants. Its ravages were renewed in the succeeding years until 

 1655. After that date the disease may have persisted in a milder form, 

 attacking now and then susceptible subjects and occasioning the death of 

 some foreigners of note, but the nature of the malady was not recognized. 

 In 1761 the disease now characterized as black vomit was definitely 

 imported from Vera Cruz, and since that time a series of circumstances, 

 such as the occupation of Havana by the British forces, the opening of 

 the port to general commerce, and the continuous arrival of immigrants 

 from Spain, have combined to make of Havana an endemic focus where the 

 disease has been prevaling with variable intensity, according to seasons and 

 years, over a period of 130 years. 



The amount of evidence brought forward in support of the above con- 

 clusions was considerable, but it could not be denied that it was mostly of 

 a "presumptive" kind, no account of the disease having been obtained 

 previous to those of Du Tertre (1648) and Labat (1695), in such terms, 

 at least, as to enable its clinical features to be recognized. 



In the course of the past year, while reading a philological study on 

 the names of "America" and "Yucatan", by the learned Bishop of Yu- 

 catan, Dr. Crescencis Carrillo y Ancona, the writer came across a re- 

 markable phrase in a quotation from one of the Chilam-Balam books. These 

 are older calendars or chronicles of the Yucatan Indians, written in the 

 Maya language for the purpose of recording the principal events that 

 affected their people. The Rev. Bishop Carrillo is known to possess a rare 

 and valuable collection of those books, and is considered an authority on 

 that important philological subject. His quotation from the Chumayel 



