218 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



gence in intoxicating stimulants of inferior manufacture, or to 

 the native grog. Dysentery is a common sequel to excess in 

 this regard, and for whites, the late Dr. Mayo told me Dr. 

 Collis-Browne's Chlorodyne is a preventive of serious conse- 

 quences. I know it cured a fellow-traveller of mine. 



I do not know any part of the world where the malforma- 

 tions caused by elephantiasis assume such tremendous propor- 

 tions as in Samoa. Dr. Turner is, I understand, engaged in a 

 work on this topic, and he is well qualified for the task, having 

 successfully operated on some of his suffering neighbours during 

 his long residence in the islands. Some photographs I have 

 seen of recent severe cases would task the credulity of anyone 

 who had not been face to face with the reality. 



On the other hand, the temperature of the islands is so mild, 

 considering that it is within 15 of the equator, that Europeans 

 are, as in Fiji, at all seasons of the year able to perform out- 

 door work -without damage to their constitution. The great 

 age to which some of the ' beachcombers ' have arrived is a 

 clear proof of the suitability of the climate to the European 

 constitution, in addition to the fact that smiths, carpenters, 

 timber-cutters, and men engaged in hard outdoor labour, pursue 

 their daily tasks with perfect health. \\ r ood-sawyers, English 

 and American, toil in their saw-pits all day without shade of 

 any kind, and never complain of the temperature. These men 

 at any rate show little of the so-called enervating influences of 

 Polynesia. 



Flies and mosquitoes are as troublesome in Samoa as in Fiji. 

 I fancy they are worse in Apia than even at Suva ; but when 

 wider dealings are made in the dense vegetation that every- 

 where surrounds the towns and villages, they will in all pro- 

 bability disappear to a great extent, as they have disappeared 

 from Levuka. 



