EVOLUTION AGAINST DISEASE 147 



at two-fifths of the mortality from all causes. Almost all the 

 authorities are of the opinion that the great prevalence of the 

 malady in these islands dates from the time when the natives 

 began to come into more intimate relations with European 

 immigrants, and therewith to make considerable changes in 

 their mode of life ; and that opinion is borne out by the fact, 

 that in the Hawaian Islands, where phthisis at the present 

 time creates great ravages among the natives, it was of rare 

 occurrence forty or fifty years ago. On the other hand, it 

 follows from Wilson's account (1806) of the state of health in 

 Tahiti, that phthisis has been widely prevalent in that group 

 as early as the beginning of the century; and there are 

 accounts to the same effect from the Tonga group, New 

 Caledonia, and other of the Archipelagoes of Polynesia." * 



239. " In New Zealand phthisis has made frightful ravages 

 among the natives, and has been one of the chief causes of 

 the gradual extinction of that race." 2 



240. " On Nossi Be also the malady is not uncommon among 

 the coloured races, particularly the Kaffirs. In Madagascar 

 and Mayotte it is as common as in Europe, and rapidly fatal, 

 as it mostly is in the tropics. In Zanzibar, Lostalot did not 

 happen to see many cases, but it is said to be especially 

 common among the Arabian women of the higher classes." 3 



241. " In Cape Colony phthisis is oftenest met with among 

 the Hottentots inhabiting the plains nearest the coast; in 

 other classes of the population it is much rarer than in the 

 East African islands within the tropics just spoken of; while 

 on the interior plateau of South Africa it hardly occurs at 

 all. There is a lack of information of a trustworthy kind as 

 to the state of health on the southern part of the West Coast 

 of Africa the coast of Lower Guinea. Around the Bights 

 of Benin and Biafer (country of the Cameroons and the 

 Gaboon), as well as in the adjoining island of St. Thomas, it 

 appears from the entirely trustworthy writings of Daniel, 

 that phthisis is widely prevalent and very malignant amongst 

 the Negroes. As regards the French settlements on the 

 Gaboon Coast, that statement is fully borne out by the 

 French medical practitioners ; and we have an account to 

 the same effect regarding its occurrence in the island of 

 Fernando Po." 4 



242. " In the Western Hemisphere the inhabited regions 

 within northern latitudes and with an Arctic climate, offer a 

 marked contrast to the corresponding territories of Europe in 



1 Hirsch, vol. in., p. 587. 2 Op. tit., p. 189. 



3 Op. cit, p. 189. * Op. cit., pp. 189-90. 



