﻿454 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1929 
  

  

  about 
  Cape 
  Maisi, 
  was 
  scantily 
  peopled. 
  Jamaica 
  and 
  the 
  Lesser 
  

   Antilles 
  offer 
  considerable 
  evidence 
  of 
  ancient 
  human 
  habitation 
  but 
  

   not 
  of 
  a 
  kind 
  permitting 
  even 
  a 
  rough 
  estimate 
  of 
  numbers. 
  

  

  IMPORTED 
  DISEASES 
  AS 
  A 
  FACTOR 
  IN 
  DEPOPULATION 
  

  

  Even 
  if 
  we 
  take 
  Las 
  Casas' 
  estimates 
  at 
  one-tenth 
  their 
  values, 
  the 
  

   eradication 
  of 
  the 
  natives 
  in 
  a 
  generation 
  is 
  difficult 
  enough 
  to 
  explain. 
  

   This 
  could 
  not 
  have 
  been 
  accomplished 
  by 
  wholesale 
  slaughter 
  with 
  

   the 
  sword, 
  considering 
  the 
  available 
  forest 
  cover 
  and 
  mountain 
  

   retreats, 
  but 
  it 
  might 
  have 
  been 
  accomplished 
  by 
  epidemics 
  of 
  new- 
  

   diseases 
  which 
  searched 
  out 
  native 
  villages 
  far 
  beyond 
  the 
  Spanish 
  

   lines. 
  Early 
  mortality 
  among 
  the 
  Indians 
  is 
  mentioned 
  by 
  Oviedo 
  and 
  

   other 
  chroniclers. 
  It 
  seems 
  that 
  the 
  so-called 
  colonization 
  of 
  Santo 
  

   Domingo 
  was 
  first 
  of 
  all 
  a 
  gold 
  rush, 
  with 
  the 
  natives 
  suddenly 
  exposed 
  

   to 
  a 
  host 
  of 
  new 
  diseases 
  and 
  to 
  a 
  condition 
  of 
  slavery 
  under 
  a 
  hetero- 
  

   geneous 
  and 
  undisciplined 
  mob. 
  While 
  starvation 
  and 
  these 
  new 
  

   diseases 
  were 
  probably 
  the 
  most 
  active 
  agents 
  of 
  sudden 
  decrease 
  in 
  

   population, 
  nevertheless 
  the 
  situation 
  was 
  commanded 
  by 
  a 
  policy 
  of 
  

   frightfulness 
  which 
  caused 
  a 
  social 
  collapse 
  so 
  complete 
  that 
  even 
  the 
  

   victors 
  nearly 
  perished 
  of 
  famine. 
  The 
  Spaniards 
  gave 
  no 
  thought 
  to 
  

   planting 
  crops, 
  intent 
  only 
  on 
  a 
  fevered 
  turning 
  over 
  of 
  the 
  ground 
  

   in 
  search 
  of 
  the 
  yellow 
  metal. 
  

  

  Devastating 
  diseases 
  pretty 
  clearly 
  of 
  New 
  World 
  origin 
  are 
  syphilis 
  

   and 
  yellow 
  fever. 
  ^ 
  To 
  the 
  first 
  of 
  these 
  the 
  agricultural 
  Indians, 
  

   especially 
  those 
  of 
  Peru, 
  Mexico, 
  and 
  the 
  West 
  Indies, 
  had 
  developed 
  

   considerable 
  immunity. 
  Yellow 
  fever 
  was 
  endemic 
  in 
  the 
  Atlantic 
  

   lowlands 
  of 
  Mexico 
  and 
  Central 
  America, 
  occasionally 
  invading 
  the 
  

   highlands. 
  

  

  Europeans 
  unloaded 
  upon 
  American 
  Indians 
  a 
  tremendous 
  burden 
  

   of 
  new 
  infections 
  for 
  which 
  the 
  latter 
  had 
  not 
  the 
  slightest 
  immunity. 
  

   Perhaps 
  smallpox 
  comes 
  first 
  as 
  an 
  introduced 
  plague 
  and 
  measles 
  

   second, 
  this 
  latter 
  malady 
  being 
  very 
  deadly 
  for 
  the 
  red 
  man. 
  But 
  

   in 
  the 
  tropics 
  the 
  debilitation 
  and 
  mortality 
  resulting 
  from 
  the 
  

   introduction 
  of 
  malaria 
  in 
  three 
  types 
  and 
  hookworm 
  in 
  two 
  are 
  

   heavy 
  factors. 
  There 
  have 
  been 
  great 
  epidemics 
  of 
  several 
  other 
  dis- 
  

   eases, 
  including 
  Asiatic 
  cholera. 
  In 
  recent 
  years 
  trachoma 
  has 
  been 
  

   a 
  burden 
  among 
  many 
  tribes. 
  High 
  mortality 
  among 
  the 
  aborigines 
  

   has 
  generall}'' 
  followed 
  the 
  opening 
  up 
  of 
  new 
  territories 
  by 
  the 
  white 
  

   men. 
  

  

  The 
  small 
  number 
  of 
  serious 
  forms 
  of 
  disease 
  in 
  pre-Columbian 
  

   America 
  is 
  explained 
  first 
  by 
  the 
  independence 
  of 
  New 
  World 
  civiliza- 
  

  

  ' 
  Anthropologists 
  have 
  long 
  insisted 
  that 
  syphilis 
  was 
  of 
  New 
  World 
  origin, 
  but 
  the 
  medical 
  world 
  after 
  

   disputing 
  the 
  evidence 
  is 
  now 
  accepting 
  it. 
  The 
  case 
  for 
  the 
  American 
  origin 
  of 
  yellow 
  fever 
  is 
  equally 
  

   strong. 
  This 
  disease 
  was 
  implanted 
  in 
  Africa 
  by 
  slave 
  traders, 
  and 
  some 
  medical 
  opinion 
  now 
  leans 
  incon- 
  

   sistently 
  to 
  Africa 
  as 
  its 
  cradle 
  land 
  (H. 
  J. 
  Spinden: 
  Yellow 
  Fever— 
  First 
  and 
  Last, 
  World's 
  Work, 
  Vol. 
  

   43, 
  pp. 
  169-181, 
  1921). 
  

  

  