158 HUNTING AND FISHING EACES 



relatively recent times and spread thence. But in spite of such 

 indications the place of origin of most diseases is obscure ; syphilis 

 was often said to have been introduced from America ; the 

 evidence, however, that it was apparently present in Germany 

 in 1495 is against this view.^ It is further of great interest to 

 note that certain diseases may have evolved in very recent days. 

 Diphtheria may date from the beginning of the last century and 

 trench fever may be a new disease. 



Little as we may know regarding the facts concerning any one 

 disease, the general conclusion is not doubtful. It was not until 

 the third period, and, therefore, only among the races of the 

 third group, that disease became a factor of the first importance 

 in elimination. Some diseases may have reached the African 

 races through Egypt ; and to the extent to which this has occurred 

 they are not typical representatives of the time preceding the last 

 of the three periods.^ 



14. In further support of this conclusion some passages may be 

 quoted regarding the races in this group when they had been 

 little influenced by contact with Europeans. Such passages are 

 perhaps not of great weight as evidence of the former absence of 

 disease ; they are, however, worth notice because they also bear 

 upon another subject that will come up for discussion in the ninth 

 chapter. According to Bonwick ' there are strong reasons to 

 believe that, before connexion with the whites, the aborigines 

 [Tasmanians] were a healthy as well as a happy people '.^ Of 

 the Australians Curr says that ' as a rule the health of the blacks 

 in their wild state was excellent '.* Longevity may be considered 

 as evidence of good health, and of the presence of aged people in 

 Australia many observers speak. ' From numerous instances it 

 would appear that the former generations were fairly long aged. 

 Almost every small community would have in it two or three men 

 or women over seventy years of age, and here and there some 

 centenarians would be met with.' ^ So, too, Burchell records 

 having noticed many old people among the Bushmen.^ Writing 

 of the Eskimos in a medical journal Smith calls them ' uncommonly 

 healthy 'J This is the opinion that one gains from other accounts,^ 



^ Hrdlicka, S. I. B. E., Bull. 34. See also Adami, Medical Contributions, pp. 15- 

 22. ^ Among many races in this group — especially in tropical countries — certain 



non-lethal diseases are j^revalent which are of great importance from another 

 point of view. They will be referred to again in Chapter XV. ^ Bonwick, 



loc. cit., p. 87. ■• Curr, Recollections, p. 282. * Mathew, loc. cit., p. 92. 



See also Eyre, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 377, and Curr, Recollections, p. 297. ® Bur- 



chell, Travels, vol. ii, p. 57. ' Smith, loc. cit., p. 859. * Murdoch, loc. cit., p. 39. 



