Page:Some Account of New Zealand.pdf/107

88 harpoon, or driven from their favorite spot by repeated disturbance.

My short residence in New Zealand would not authorize me to speak of the climate in general, I therefore omitted it altogether in the body of the work; but that it is never intensely cold, may be presumed, from its latitude; the heat of summer is, I imagine, prevented from being oppressive by breezes from the sea: during my stay in September and October, the thermometer ranged from fifty to sixty degrees.

That the climate is salubrious cannot be doubted, for neither the appearance or accounts of the natives indicate the prevalence of disease. From this happy state medical practice has hitherto been unknown among them, but I much fear the visits of some European ships have rendered professional assistance necessary to prevent great numbers of them from falling victims to a most distressing malady. Rh