1805.] 



Literary and Philefophlcal Intelligence. 



555 



been received from an officer in the Ruflian 

 expedition under M. de Krusenster N ; 

 — " On the 6th of Mjy we perceived 

 Hood's Ifland, and about noon of the 

 fame day Riou's Ilhnd, which form a part 

 the group called Marquefas, which tiie 

 French navigator M. Marchand has 

 denominated the Iflands of the Revolu- 

 tion. That which is confidered the largeft 

 of them received from him the appellation 

 ofBaux, but in the language of the coun- 

 try it is called Nukahiwah. On the 7th 

 one of our (hips, the Nadc/hda, made thit 

 iiland : the natives immediately came on 

 board in ciowds, and appeared highly de- 

 lighted at our vifit : we obferved among 

 them an EngliQiman and a Frenchman, 

 who have been naturalized in the country. 

 About noon our veflel came to an anchor 

 in the Gulph of Anna- Maria, and the 

 next day went on fhore. After viewing 

 the country, we thought fit to pay a vilit 

 to the chief of thefe favages. The wo- 

 men of this ifland are all excefllvely ugly ; 

 but this proceeds rather from the difpro- 

 portion of their limbs than the coarfenefs 

 cf their features ; they generally go naked, 

 their whole drefs confuting of a tew leaves 

 rudely fewed together, with which they 

 cover the parts of generation. Nature, who 

 has been lo niggardly of her favours to the 

 women, feems, by a fingular caprice, to 

 have lavifhed them all on the men : thefe 

 favages are of a noble ftature, and peifcCl 

 proportion"!, and we met with none who 

 was either diminutive or deformed : their 

 drefs is very extraordinary ; they make ufe 

 of none excepting for the head, the arms, 

 and the legs, the other parts of the body 

 being entirely nak.ed. Their food is the 

 bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, fiih, poik, and 

 even human fleflr : thefe iflanders devour 

 nst only th.ir prifoners of war, and the 

 enemies whom they have killed, but even 

 their wives and children in times of fear- 

 city. Their arms are flings, lances, and 

 clubs made cf the wood of the tafuarina. 

 The Englilhman, whom we had on board, 

 and who appears to have refidcd a confi- 

 derable time among thefe cannibals, warn- 

 ed us not to place too gr;at confidence in 

 their apparent joy. As nature fcem« to 

 have made ample provifion for their ordi- 

 nary wants, they fpend their time in feaft- 

 ing and drinking : they, however, mani- 

 fefted great folicitude to ferve us. They 

 ufe the fkin of the whale [or making a 

 kind ofdrum, which is their national ma- 

 fic. Their chief or king, whofe name i» 

 Tapcka Ketenue, excrclles no authority 

 gvtr them ; but he and his family are con- 

 fidered asuiviehblc : ihcy pay him a hea- 



vy tribute on their firtiery, becaufe they 

 look upon him as the mafter of the ocean. 

 They worniip a certain god called Atua, 

 who is nothing more ihm the corpfe of 

 their high-priett ; for as foon as he dies 

 his bcdv undergoes various operations : 

 after it has been cleanl'ed and walhed with 

 cocoa-nut oil, it is expoftd to ihe air to 

 dry, and then embalmed : it is then wrap, 

 ped in (kins fewed together, and depolited 

 in the place confecrated to this purpofe : 

 they facnfice to him their p.ifoners of 

 war, whofe fl^fh they devour with great 

 avidity. Tde 8th of June the NaJelhda 

 arrived at the ifiand of Owhyhee, the inha- 

 bitants of which are much more induf- 

 trious than thole of the Marqutl'as, but 

 they are lefs l.andfome. On the 15th of 

 this month we arrived at the port of St. 

 Peier and St. Paol. The nuiiiber of the 

 Kamtfchadalcs ha* diminiftied exceedingly, 

 in confequsnce of epidemic difeafes, which 

 have made dreadful ravages among them. 

 Daring our refidence in thefe parts cur 

 crews opened a fubfcription tor the erec- 

 tion of an hofpital, which foon amounted 

 to the fum of four thoufand rubles." 



By a calculation of ten years, from the 

 I ft of January, 1791, to the 31ft of De- 

 cember, 1800, it appears that the average 

 number of deaths at Vienna was 14., 600 ; 

 out of which were 835 children of the 

 fmall-pox. In 1801, the period in wiiich 

 vaccination began to be introduced, out 

 of 15,101, only 164 children fell victims 

 to the fmall-pox ; in i8oi, out of 14., 522, 

 only 61 ; in 1803, out of 14,383, but 27 ; 

 and in 1804., out of 14-, 035, no more 

 than 2. 



A difea'isof a very extraordinary nature 

 has appeared among the labourers in a 

 coal-mme at Anzain, near Valenciennes, 

 the caiife of which appears to be confined 

 to a fingle (haft in that mine. The face 

 and the whole body alTume a very daik 

 yellow colour, and the patient falls in;o a 

 (tate of languor and exhauftion, in which 

 he lingers ftveral months, fomctimes more 

 than a ys-ar, when deatli generally fuper- 

 vtnes. Four men who had been thus af- 

 fected more than tight months were re- 

 moved to the hofpital of the School of 

 Medicine at Paris. The chara£fcri(tic 

 fymptoms lliey exhibited were, an univer- 

 fal difcol iiration, fwelling, inability to 

 walk without opprefuon, palpitations, and 

 habitual perlpiration. One of thefe poor 

 men fell a victim to the malady. M. 

 Hai.LE, on opening his body, was parti- 

 cularly (h iirk with the abfence of blooil in 

 almoll every part ; and this hcjul'ily con- 

 fiders as one of thu molt remarkable cir- 

 ^ A z cuinal\aces 



