23 



2. The pronouncement presumably either made or 

 acquiesced in by the chief medical officer to the settlement 

 (Surgeon-General White) that the disease was small-pox. 



3. That neither the whites, generally, nor the white chil- 

 dren were affected, and that while the two native adults 

 died of the disease the two affected children recovered. 



Captain Hunter (7, 132) also gives an account of the 

 outbreak which is assumed to be small-pox, and it is again 

 alluded to by Barrington (8, 31) "as a disorder in appearance 

 like the small -pox," and similarly by Tench (9, 18 and 27). 



These are the earliest references to this outbreak, made 

 by those who were living in the settlement at the time of 

 its occurrence, and they leave no doubt of the main fact, 

 viz., that in 1789 the natives of the locality became smitten 

 with a virulent malady that, was either small-pox or so like 

 it as to be readily taken for it. 



At this stage, and before tracing the further progress 

 of the disease, we must return more particularly to the ques- 

 tion of its mode of origin. We have seen that there are no 

 grounds for attributing its source to the French sailors, 

 whose ships show an exceptionally clean bill of health right 

 up to the shores of Australia. There remains, then, for 

 further consideration the English ships, and it becomes neces- 

 sary to examine their health record more minutely from the 

 commencement of their voyage. 



The facts in this connection are recorded by John 

 White, Surgeon-General to Captain Phillip's expedition and, 

 afterwards, of the settlement (10, 2 et seq.J, and as their cor- 

 rect interpretation is of such importance I must at some 

 length quote the author's words (the italics are his) : — 



While the main part of the fleet destined for the new 

 settlement was lying at Spithead previous to sailing it was 

 joined by two additional transports, on one of which was the 

 Surgeon-General, and immediately afterwards "I visited all 

 the other transports, and was really surprised to find the 

 convicts on board them so very healthy. When I got on 

 board the 'Alexander,' I found there a medical gentleman 

 from Portsmouth, among whose acquaintance I had not the 

 honour to be numbered. He scarcely gave me time to get 

 upon the quarter-deck, before he thus addressed me — T am 

 very glad you are arrived, Sir ; for your people have got a 

 malignant disease among them of a most dangerous kind ; and 

 it will be necessary, for their preservation, to get them imme- 

 diately released.' Surprised at such a salutation, and 

 alarmed at the purport of it, I requested of my assistant, 

 Mr. Balmain, an intelligent young man, whom I had ap- 

 pointed to the ship for the voyage, to let me see the people 



