330 FEEJEE GROUP. 
some acute disease of the lungs. This was said frequently to attack 
fine stout and healthy young men, who would be seen engaged in all 
kinds of sports with their companions, and apparently as active and in 
as good health as any around them, and would suddenly contract a 
cough, become emaciated, and in a few days it would prove fatal to 
them. 
Fevers, whether intermittent or remittent, are unknown. 
Ophthalmia is less common here than in the other groups. 
Hernia is as frequent as it is in the United States. 
Primary syphilis does not exist among the people, as far as the 
information of the whites goes. No case of it occurred among our 
crew during our visit; nor are the other diseases of this kind found 
here. 
Bad ulcers on the extremities are frequent, and this is one of the 
most disgusting things about the Feejee men. I might say, that al- 
most every third man has either his fingers or his toes ulcerated; but, 
though more common among the Feejee men, it is also frequent among 
the natives of the other groups. These ulcers are often neglected, even 
among the chiefs. Our friend Mr. Phillips had a very bad one on his 
finger. The whites who reside among the natives, told me that they 
frequently had them, but that when treated in time they were easily 
cured. The natives, however, generally leave them without any appli- 
cation. 
They have no physicians, but were anxious to receive medical 
advice from our surgeons; and, when the kings or chiefs took medi- 
cine, it sometimes happened that all their people were desirous to take 
it also. 
They occasionally suffered great distress from gunshot wounds, but 
the nature of their climate, and the vegetable diet to which they are at 
most times restricted, operate to effect cures in cases that would else- 
where be dangerous under the most skilful treatment. 
By their constant use of human subjects, they have become some- 
what acquainted with the anatomy of the human frame. They can, 
therefore, perform several surgical operations, in a rude way, and are, 
at times, successful in their treatment of diseases, although, from the 
following anecdotes, they have more confidence in the skill and know- 
ledge of the whites than in themselves, however rude the practitioner. 
One of the natives of Ambau being taken sick at Levuka, David 
Whippy (who told the story to me himself) proposed to bleed him from 
the arm, to which the native consented. Not having any lancets, 
Whippy sharpened his sheath-knife (such as is used by sailors) to as 
fine a point as he could get it, punctured the vein in the arm, and drew 
4 
