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Show 382 ACCLIMA'l'JON; OR, 'l'llE INFLUENCE OF ing mind.19 We sha1l, therefore, leave this point, and tu~n back again to the Report of Major 'l'ulloch, whore wo :find some mteresting facts, respecting the negro race, in the Mauritius, which will not bear curtailment. Black Pio>teer&.-" Those military lt1borors hnvo boon enlisted for tho purpose of relieving tho Europctm soldiers f1·om tho performance of f!\tiguc and other duties, which subjected them to much exposure. Thoy nro all nogroos, who have oithor boon born in tho Mauritius, or brought from Mndagasc11r 1111d Mozambique, on tho o11storn co11st of Africa. Thoy are described as being a more 1·obust aud athletic race th11n those composing tho West India regiments. "A table exhibits the ndmissions into hospital and do11ths nmong those troops since 1826. As regards both, tho ro.tio is nlmost exnctly the snmo as nmong tho blo.ck troops and pioneers in tho Windward and Lcownrd command: tho former being as 839 to 820, and tho lnttcr as S7 to 4.0 per 1000, of mcrm strength nnnually; so that the Afauritit4& and West Indies uem alike unwitcd to the corntittttion of the mgro. This shows l1ow vain is tho expectation, oven under tho most favom\.llo circumstnnocs, of that race over keeping up or perpetuating their number in either of those colonioA, when mon in tho prime of lifo, selected for their strength nnd onpttbility for labor, sn\.ljoot to no physicnl defect at enlistment, and secured by military regulations from nil harsh treatment, die nearly fortr tim~ as rapidly as tlte aborigiual inhabita> l/6 of tlte (Jape, or otlter ltealt11y c.ountries, at tlte same age; and at least tlt'l'ice a& rapidly a1 the wllite population of tltc Jlfauritius. Indud, so fast i& the tugro race decreasing there, that, iu five years, tlte deaths II ave exceeded tlte births by upward& of 0000, in a population of 00,000. "Ilowcvcr difficult it mtty bo to nssign an efficient cnusc, it is c01·tain thnt tho inbabitnnts of diO'orcnt countries hnvc different susceptibilities for pnrti.culnr di sonsos. }'overs, for instance, have little influence on tho negro rncc, in tho Mauritius; fo1· no death has occurred from thorn, and the admissions have boon in much the same proportion as among on equal number of persons in tho United IGngdom; but hero, ns in nll other colonies in which we lt11Vo boon able to trace tho fntal disonscs of the negro, tho groat sou1·cc of mortnlity has boon that of tho lungs; indeed, more die irom that clnss nlono, than of Hottentot troops, nt tho Cape, from nll diseases together; but tho l11ttcr arc serviug in tltoir n~tturnl climate, tho former in one to which their constitution has novor adapted, and probably never will ndrtpt itself. "MAJOlt TuLLOOI! comp11ros tho mortality of t.ho negro, from discnscs of tho lungs, in various colonies. Thoro died nnnually of those affections, per 1000 of mcnn strength- West const of Africa....................................................... 6.8 Honduras.......... ... ...... ......... ......... ......... ......... .... .. ... .. .. .. 8.1 Bahamas............................................................. ......... !l. 7 Jamaio11 ........................................................................ 10.8 M11uritius .................................................................... 12.9 Windwm·d nnd Leeward Command ...................................... 10.6 Gibraltar ....................................................................... S8.6 "Thus, in his native country, tho negro appears to suffer from these discnsos iu much lhe same proportion ns British troops in their native count1·y; but, so soon as he goes beyond it, tho mortality incrcnsos, till, in some colonies, it attnins to such 11 height 118 Roomingly to preclude tho possibility of his raoo ever forming n honlthy or increasing popul11tion. "It is in vain thn.t. we look for the oauso of this romarknblo ditforoncc, oithor in tempo- 18 Sec the distinction between "bilious and yellow fever," in tho E&say by Pnor. RroUARD D. AnNor.o, M.D., of Su.vannnh, road before tho Medioni Society of tho State of Gcorgi11, Augusta, G11., 1866. CLIMATE AND DISEASES ON MAN. 383 ratnro, moisture, or any of those 11pprcoj11ble ntmosphol'io agencies by which tho human frame is likely to bo affected in some climntcs more thr~n others; nod it is consequently impossible, from any other do.tn than thnt which tho experience of medio11l records furnishes, to say where this ol11ss of troops onn be employed with advantage. No11rly twothil ·ds of tho mortality from discnscs of the lungs, 11mong negroes, arises from pulmonary consumption; and it is worthy of remark, ns showing how little th11t cliscnso affects tho ntltivos of some tropicnl climates, though it proves so fato.l to those of other·•, that, 11mong 71,850 native tt·oops serving in tho M~tdrna Presidency, tho deaths by ovc1·y description of disease of the lungs, did not, on the nvomgo of five years, oxcood 1 po1· 1000 of tho strength nnnunlly." In the "Journal of tlte Statistical Society of London," will be found another exceedingly interestino- paper by tho same writer, now Lieut.-Coloncl Tulloch, l!~. S. ., in continuation of the same subject, and giving later statistics.~ He says: "Tho preceding tables npply outir·oly to European troops serving 11broad. It m11y now pt·ovc interesting to extend 11 similar course of obscrv11tions to the influence of tho same climntos on the mortality of native or black troops, dnr·ing the same periods. Of those, I shall first advert to the Mnlt11 l~cnciblos, composed of por·sons born in tho island. "l'be strougth of this corps, and tho deaths autcccdont to tho Slat March, 1840, wore ns follows: STRENOTI!. DJolATIIS. Year ending Slat March, 1846 ............................ 676 6 1846 .............................. 674 6 being llt tho rate of 8r70' per thousnnd, on tho average of those two yonrs; while the 11vorage from 1826, when this corps wns raised, till 1830, a period of cloven years, was\) por 1000 nnnunlly. 1'hus, this corps proved one of tho healthiest in the service; rmcl, as in the cnso of other t1·oops so1'Ving in tho colonies, its health tlnd otncioncy seem to be on the incronso. "Tho Cape corps, composed of Hottentots, shows, howcvot·, a still lower dogroo of mortality during tho same period: tho strength and deaths for those two yo!\l's having been rcspcotivoly a~ follows: 8TR1<1NOTII. DJ<1AT1!8. Year ending Blat Marolt, 1846 .............................. 420 1846 ............................. 418 A vorngo of these two yon.rs. .. .. .. .. .. • .. .. .. .. .. ... .... .. ... 434 being at tho rnto of 7 per 1000 nnnurdly; while tho mortality in tho s11mo corps, on the a.vora,ge of the thil·toon yours antecedent to 1836, was 12 per 1000 annually-thus showing a gront reduction of late yonrs. "Tho mtio of mortality in both those corps l1o.s boon much bolow what is usu11l, oven among tho most select lives in this country (England); and shows tho gt·eat ndv~tutago, wherever it is prnctioablo, of employing tho n11tivo inhabitnnts of our colonies, as a defensive force, in pvcforonoc to regular troops sent from thiA country. "On compnring tho eliot and habits of men composing those two corps (which exhibit eo low a degree of mortality dur·ing a long sorios of ycrlt'M), they will \.to found dittmotl'ionlly opposite: the Maltose solcliot· living prinoipn,JJy on vogctt1blo diet, nnd mroly in<lolging in tho uso of fermented or spirituous liquors, while tho Hottentot soldier, like others of his moe, lives principally on animal food, nnd th11t of tho oonrscst description. Owing to tho wrmt of min nnd tho uncertainty of the crops, g1·nin is often very scnroo on tho enstcrn 20 I,nuT.-CoL. A. M. TUL):-0011, F. S. S., "On the .Mortality among IIer Afaj'817/& troops m·ving in the Ooloniu during tlte years 1814-6." Read before tho Stntistionl Society, Jnn. 21, 1847. |
