"Why was the disease so fatal here when it is not so in our own country?" one of the youths inquired.
"You are aware, I presume," the Doctor answered, "that care should be exercised in measles against taking cold, and thus driving the disease to the lungs. These people are continually bathing, and it was the most natural thing in the world for them to rush to the cooling streams as soon as the fever came on them. In this way thousands doomed themselves to death, and besides, there came an unusual rainfall that converted great areas of country into swamps, and rendered it impossible for the people to keep dry even if they had tried to do so.
"As an illustration of the effect of bathing, I may mention the case of the native police at Levuka. A hundred and fifty men were seized with measles, and the officer in charge, an Englishman, immediately established a hospital and ordered those who were least affected to care for the rest. They were forbidden to bathe or allow any one else to do so; all the patients recovered except ten, and of these every man was found to have disobeyed orders and indulged in a bath in the tempting sea which was close by.
"An English resident says that whole villages were swept away by the scourge, the dead were buried in their own houses, and to this day many of the platforms on which the Feejeean houses are built are simply family tombs. The coast towns suffered more than those of the interior, probably in consequence of their being in more swampy ground, and thus more affected by the dampness. The measles were afterwards carried to other groups, where the effect was severe, but not so fatal in proportion to the population as in the Feejees."
With this explanation Frank put down the number of native inhabitants of the Feejees at 120,000; afterwards he obtained at Suva the figures of the census of 1884, which were as follows: European residents, 3513; native Feejeeans, 115,635; Polynesian laborers, 5634; Asiatics, about 5000; and Rotumah men, about 2600.
A POLYNESIAN IDOL.
"What is a Rotumah man?" said Fred, when the above figures were obtained and read aloud by Frank.
"Rotumah," said the Doctor, "is a small island lying in mid-ocean about four hundred miles north of Feejee, and recently made a British possession. The natives are a kindly race; the women are prettier than most other Polynesians, and the men strong and of good size. They make excellent sailors, and you find them in ships all over the South Pacific, and even in other parts of the world. A gentleman who visited Rotumah told me it was no uncommon thing to find natives who had been in New York, London, Liverpool, or Hamburg, and they could discuss the relative merits of sailing and steam vessels with an intelligence not always found among white sailors.