Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/225

1769

Among people whose diet is so simple and plain distempers cannot be expected to be as frequent as among us Europeans; we observed but few, and those chiefly cutaneous, as erysipelas and scaly eruptions on the skin. This last was almost, if not quite, advanced to leprosy; the people who were in that state were secluded from society, living by themselves each in a small house built in some unfrequented place, where they were daily supplied with provisions. Whether these had any hope of relief, or were doomed in this manner to languish out a life of solitude, we did not learn. Some, but very few, had ulcers on different parts of their bodies, most of which looked very virulent; the people who were afflicted with them did not, however, seem much to regard them, leaving them entirely without any application, even to keep off the flies. Acute distempers no doubt they have, but while we stayed upon the island they were very uncommon; possibly in the rainy season they are more frequent. Among the numerous acquaintances I had upon the island only one was taken ill during our stay. I visited her and found her, as is their custom, left by everybody but her three children, who sat by her; her