CRUISE OF THE PORPOISE. 305 



Ophthalmia is much complained of, particularly about Honolulu, 

 Lahaina, and some places on Kauai : this might be ascribed to the 

 quantity of dust that is daily put in circulation by the trade-winds, 

 were it not that the disease is equally prevalent where this cause does 

 not exist. I have heard it suggested that the prevalence of the strong 

 trade-winds, with the salt spray driven by them, may be another 

 cause. 



Cutaneous diseases are usually caused by the want of cleanliness ; 

 for, although the natives are in the habit of bathing frequently, yet 

 from my observations of their customs and dwellings, I cannot but 

 deem them a filthy people : the tapa and cotton clothing of both sexes 

 is worn until it is fairly in rags, and has become so dirty as to be dis- 

 gusting : they seldom if ever think of a change of raiment. Their 

 houses are shared with their domestic fowls, dogs, and pigs, and are 

 rarely free from the dirt that so many denizens must produce. One 

 sees that most filthy disease, the itch, not unfrequently affecting 

 the larger portion of the inmates of a house, and I could not help 

 wondering that so little improvement had manifested itself among 

 them, in their habitations and mode of living. 



My friend, Dr. Judd, assured me, that hepatic diseases were ex- 

 tremely rare, and that this ocean seems to be peculiarly exempt from 

 all biliary diseases. The ground of this belief, is the almost total 

 absence of them on board our whaling fleet. The physicians of 

 Honolulu and Lahaina, where these ships often stop in large num- 

 bers, assured me that they seldom heard of a case. These islands 

 are indeed little subject to these diseases, or the typhus, bilious, and 

 yellow fevers, which prevail so extensively on the continents. They 

 are also free from the measles, small-pox, &c. 



The diseases of children are frequent, but may chiefly be accounted 

 for by the want of cleanliness and attention from their parents : hence 

 the great mortality among them, which has been before spoken of. 

 They are also allowed to eat the most indigestible food, and from this 

 and other causes are frequently seen covered with excoriations and 

 ulcers, that are truly horrible. 



A somewhat similar disease to that which we have observed in the 

 other Polynesian islands, exists here under the name of the poupou ; 

 but it is by no means so violent, nor did we see any cases of so dis- 

 gusting a character as those heretofore described : it is very much 

 confined to the young. 



In speaking of the native diseases, I cannot but think that many of 

 VOL. IV. 77 



