HEALTHINESS. 
255 
are generally treated with great respect, and were thought to 
he under the immediate influence of some atua; hut this 
malady seems to be far more prevalent amongst our own 
countrymen in New Zealand, than amongst the natives; 
perhaps more so than in England. In some instances, it 
may be accounted for by excess in drink, hut, in many cases, 
no cause can be assigned. 
Albinos, though not numerous, are yet occasionally met 
with: they have generally an unhealthy and idiotic look ; 
their countenance is very red, and the hair either sandy, 
white, or bright red, with blue eyes. Some of these persons 
were afflicted with insanity, and partly leprous. They are 
supposed to be the fruit of illicit intercourse of spirits with 
their females. 
Scrofulous diseases are now general amongst the natives; 
originally introduced by Europeans, they are now naturalized 
in the system, and propagated in their offspring, and have 
become a chief cause of mortality amongst them. 
The first time the influenza made its appearance in New 
Zealand was in 1844, and so generally did it prevail, that 
scarcely an individual escaped; the poor natives were affected 
so severely, that many of them were cut off. The same 
complaint was raging in all the Australian colonies, as well 
as in the various settlements of New Zealand. The Austra¬ 
lian papers, which made us acquainted with this fact, also 
recorded another contemporary circumstance, viz., that im¬ 
mense quantities of fish were thrown up on all their shores; 
this was likewise the case in New Zealand, from which I 
inferred that there was a common cause for the phenomenon, 
and this I attributed to the escape of large quantities of 
noxious gas from the bottom of the sea, which killed the 
fish, and affected men, by vitiating the atmosphere of certain 
parallels. It has been noticed that after any violent earth¬ 
quakes, when deleterious gas has been ejected, much sickness 
has invariably ensued. In later years, I recollect the Bishop 
remarking, that he found the natives of some little lone isle 
all prostrated with the influenza, although no vessel but his 
own had visited it. We can, therefore, only attribute these 
