A CANOE VOYAGE. 
113 
presence of the passengers in the canoes. Some 
of them are very attractive, and they form quite 
a distinct class in the natural history of the 
world. 
It was melancholy to see on all sides, as we 
passed along on our journey, the signs of suffer¬ 
ing and distress which these woods and thickets 
presented, and which accompanied a most appal¬ 
ling outbreak of the worst kind of small-pox, 
which was at that time raging in the district. 
Vaccination had up to this period been practi¬ 
cally unknown amongst these people, and con¬ 
sequently the epidemic had free course. The 
insanitary condition of the villages, the intense 
heat of the coast climate, and the habits of the 
people in the more remote districts, all combined 
to spread the ghastly visitation and to increase 
the area of its operation. Whole families were 
stricken at once, and a panic ensued. The people 
fled as from the face of an invading army; 
villages where the plague had shown itself 
were immediately deserted, and the unfortunate 
beings upon whom the complaint fastened were 
treated as cursed of heaven, and were driven out 
by their own flesh and blood from their homes 
into the forests, where the unhappy wretches 
made themselves huts of leaves and branches, 
or more often sat upon the ground exposed to 
the pitiless torrents, and waited for death, or 
H 
