PKIMIT1VE AGEICULTUEAL EACES 195 



head hunters. Nine-tenths of the men in the pueblos of Bontoc 

 and Samoki wear on the breast the indelible tatoo emblem which 

 proclaims them takers of human heads.' x Women and children 

 over five years of age are killed. 2 



The failure to recognize natural death as such is as prevalent 

 in this region as in the others which we have surveyed. Speaking 

 of New Guinea, Eomilly says ' in the native opinion there is no 

 such thing as a " natural death ". If a man escapes a violent 

 death and dies of fever or pneumonia, it is said that he has been 

 bewitched and that a. devil has killed him.' 3 So, too, von der Sande 

 in his description of Humboldt Bay records that ' the opinion 

 is generally held that death is always caused by the evil desire of 

 other persons ' ; 4 in consequence numerous murders follow. 



35. With regard to the prevalence of disease it is sufficient to 

 say that disease was certainly less common than in Africa. It is 

 probably true that disease was of as little importance as a factor 

 of elimination as in America. 5 



The evidence with regard to infant mortality shows that it is 

 again considerable, and due to ignorance and want of care. Speak- 

 ing of New Guinea, Newton says that ' the rate of infant mortality 

 is high, but it is often due, so we suspect, to the absolute belief 

 that a child must have some taro to eat where taro is the staple 

 food if it is to thrive. . . . Infants not twenty-four hours old 

 have had taro given them.' 6 Kreutz found that many more 

 children died in the second than in the first year ; this he attri- 

 buted to the fact that, whereas while in the first year they are well 

 looked after, in the second year, when they begin to crawl about, 

 they often die from want of attention. 7 Turner states that not less 

 than two-thirds of the children in Samoa died in childhood from 

 carelessness and mismanagement, 8 and of the Bontoc Igorot we are 

 told that children are brought up without any sign of knowledge 

 as to how they should be treated from the point of view of health. 9 



1 Jenks, loc. cit., p. 172. a Ibid., p. 182. 3 Romilly, From my 



Verandah, p. 52. * Von der Sande, Nova Guinea, vol. iii, p. 270. Neuhaus, 



loc. cit., vol. i, p. 131, attributes considerable importance to this factor. 



6 It is again noticeable that in the accounts of the older observers the general 

 good health of these races is remarked upon. See, for instance, Kotzebue, loc. 

 cit., p. 129 (for the Sandwich Islands) and p. 170 (for Radeck) ; Cheyne, Western 

 Pacific Ocean, p. 9 (for Island of Pines). 



6 Newton, loc. cit., p. 189. For New Ireland see Stephan and Graebner, loc. cit., 

 p. 1 8, where the high child mortality is attributed to exposure. 7 Kreutz, 



loc. cit., p. 202. 8 Turner, Samoa, p. 135. Jenks, loc. cit., p. 61. For 



the whole question of child mortality among primitive races see Gerland, tfber 

 das Aussterben der Naturvolker, p. 24 to p. 39. 



N2 



