Report of the Commission appointed to Inquire into the Decrease of the Native Population, with appendices.

  • Fiji. Commission appointed to Inquire into the Decrease of the Native Population.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Commission appointed to Inquire into the Decrease of the Native Population, with appendices. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    51/442 (page 37)
    We take this opportunity of pointing out that the promulgation of this ^j^^^^g*^ crude theory among the natives is cruel and not devoid of danger. There is ample proof that the first contact of voyagers with indigenous peoples—or people Mhmte by the who have been isolated for generations—is fraught with physical danger to the Commission, latter ; and it is not unnatural that, even without being so i)rompted, natives should blame the European residents of the present day for the harm that has resulted to the native race through the introduction of foreign epidemics. The princii:)al harm, however, is done by the primary contact, and it might end there if native communities could be induced to keep step with the march of civilisation as it reaches them,—and it is impossible in these days to prevent it from reaching them. This, however, they will not do. Their motive power lies entirely in precedent, which in those circumstances cannot help them ; and progress from within is thus impossible. 103. We believe that all the epidemic diseases mentioned above (para. 101), together with dysentery and measles, were unknown to Fijians before their contact with foreigners, and that the physical constitution of the race has been undermined by the persistent attacks of these epidemics, which found a virgin soil for their propagation free from circumstances unfavourable to their development. We think that the presence of foreign bacterigj^, against which the Pijian's body has neither been habituated by contact nor sheltered by his surroundings, has (in conjunction with the universal prevalence of yaws), shattered the stamina of the present generation and weakened the vitality of their progeny. The great mortality that attends the constantly recurring local epidemics of dysentery, catarrhal influenza, and wdiooping-cough, indicates— (a) The weakness of the individual, or (b) The virility of the malady, or (c) The inadequacy of the treatment. All these factors are probably present in each case; but the treatment is the only one that can be coped with, and that, up to the present, has been a matter of great diiliculty. Natives will not adopt European methods of prevention and treatment. When urged to do so, they invariably ask, Why should we do what our fathers never did ? Some Europeans even, from whom more might be expected, adopt the native view of this matter, and, if some specific course of action be recom- mended, ask, Why should the lack of these things prevent the increase of the people who must have increased in the old days without such luxuries ? Both forget, in maintaining these sentiments, that the natives have now to ! contend with diseases from which their fathers were absolutely free, and that they have to carry on the battle with a vitality diminished by the effects which unchecked foreign epidemics have left on three or four generations of their people. Natives, therefore, require more careful treatment and nursing than Euro- peans need for these diseases. The native mode of life prevents the care of the sick as that is understood by Europeans. The native systems of house-building, bedding, food supply, work by women, care of children, and medical treatment, are practically no better fitted to contend with epidemic diseases than they were a centur}* ago when those diseases were unknown ; and we have no hesitation in saying that, until their mode of life in these respects is improved, it will be impossible for natives to encounter European diseases with reasonable chances of survival. 104. The principal remedies which might be applied to effect these improvements consist of— Promotion of measures for avoidance of Yaws. Improvement of the Condition of Women. Hygienic live with his inferiors, to weo the same clothes, or use the same mat, or the same jDillow. In a few days the neck or the helly of the low-born man will swell up and he will che, for he has been blighted by his chief. It is so with the white chiefs towards us the natives. If we live together with them for long we, the natives of Fiji, will be completely swept away. 2. They are great and we are insignificant. A plant cannot grow up under a great un tree, for the great ivi over- shadows it, and the grass or plant underneath pines away. It is thus with the chiefs of the great lands who live among us. This is the reason for the decrease of us the Fijiajis. ' Let us move gently : we are in the glare of the light.'— (Fijian proverb). Let us jjractise religion.—Josefa Sokovagone.