18 CEUISE OF STEAMER OORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



No opiilemiis are iiiontiouetl, except one of gastric fever, tbo result of immoderate eatiug, 

 uliich ])revaile<l on Saint (ieorge's Island. It yielded to treatment. Tbe houses of this island are 

 reported to l)e in a satisfactory condition, sanitary conditions being observed as far as ]>ossible, also 

 order and cleanliness; and tlie Kashim (or club-house) comes in for favorable mention. 



On the Island of Saint Paul the regulations establislied for cleanliness are reported to have 

 been generally obeyed. Inoculation (?) was generally carried out, and almost all the children were 

 vaccinated except at Ikogmut Mission, where the natives refused to adopt tiiis method of protec- 

 tion ; but it is stated that this obstinacy may be overcome by time or accidental circumstances 

 such as the prevalence of an ei>idemic. 



A disease called the ''black measles'' ap[)eared at Kodiak and the adjoining islands in 187o, 

 from which the Alaska Herald of August 3, 187.^, reports tbe following deaths to July of that year : 



Kodiak 40 



Wood Island 50 



Afogiiak 20 



Yelona - - - 10 



flafile llarlior 10 



Total I*) 



Tiie natives of the Pribylof Islands, being better housed than these on the Aleutian Islands, 

 ajtpcar of late to have fared bettor as regards hcaltli than their more southern neighbors. The 

 woniler is, though, after visiting these islands, that so little sickness exists among a population 

 most of whom live but a few hundred yards away from the carcasses of thousands of seals in all 

 stages of decomposition. On the island of Saint Paul, for instance, where the climate is as humid 

 and disagreeable as possible, the carcasses of the 80,000 seals that are slaughtered yearly are left 

 to decay in the open air in the immediate vicinity of the village, and the stench therefroiu is auy- 

 tliiiig but pleasant. One night the Corwin anchored under tbe lee of the island, about a mile off 

 shore, and the stench was so great as to jireclude sleep during the night. 



A stroll ashore on Saint Paul aftbrded a line opportunity to study comparative anatomy, 

 especially of tbe marine mammalia; for in addition to the millions of live seals to be seen hauled 

 up on the rookeries, we walked through the green, slimy ooze, the remains of thousands of seals 

 slain years ago, occasionally sinking over our ankles in a substance resembling adipocere;- picked 

 our way through the scattered anatomy of last year's seal and walrus; witnessed the remains of 

 the l,."»00 .seals killed but yesterday and of the 1,L'00 killed the day before. 



I'^rom information furnished by Special Agent Otis, it is learned that tbe prevailing diseases 

 are of a ])ulnionary and cutaneous character, but the mortality returns of a late year show three 

 deaths each from scrofula and cerebro spinal meningitis. Since 1860, out of a population of about 

 300, the increase lias been but slight, tbe births and deaths having about balanced each other. The 

 mortality per thousand being nearly three times greater than that among more civilized commuai- 

 ties under more favorable conditions, and tbe Aleutian women, as a rule, being unprolitic, it is 

 hardly reasonable to look for any deciided iiutrease in tbe population excei)t under changed and 

 more favorable conditions. 



Mr. George Kennan, the genial author of ''Tent Life in Siberia," has kindly furnished a trans- 

 lation of the cbaptei' from Veniamenotf 's History of the Aleutian Islands, relatives to " Diseases an<l 

 their Treatment," from which the following notes are taken: 



" It appears that in the early days of the Russian occupation the Aleutians bad some crude 

 notions of human anatomy, which they accinired from the dissection of the dead bodies of their 

 slaves, and they also had considerable knowledge of medicine and surgery tbe practice of which, 

 being prohibited aiul suppressed by tbe Russians, is now entirely lost. Among the diseases most 

 common to them were a skin disease known as 'seep;' itch, boils, diarrhoea, and fever — the latter 

 called 'commou" because no one escaped it — and consumption of two kinds generally considered 

 incurable. The first variety was simply a decay of the lungs attended by such symptoms as 

 cough, spitting of blood, and shortness of breath; the second, proceeding from decay of the liver, 

 was accompanied by gTii)iug of the intestines and rapid emaciation. 



"They were also acquainted with another disease which they called the 'inward disease.' 

 Scurvy and venereal disease were formerly unknown to them. 



