Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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This Augmentation Of
Heat Adds To The Insalubrity Of The Climate.
Among the causes of the depopulation of the Raudales, I have not
reckoned the small-pox, that malady which
In other parts of America
makes such cruel ravages that the natives, seized with dismay, burn
their huts, kill their children, and renounce every kind of society.
This scourge is almost unknown on the banks of the Orinoco, and should
it penetrate thither, it is to be hoped that its effects may be
immediately counteracted by vaccination, the blessings of which are
daily felt along the coasts of Terra Firma. The causes which
depopulate the Christian settlements are, the repugnance of the
Indians for the regulations of the missions, insalubrity of climate,
bad nourishment, want of care in the diseases of children, and the
guilty practice of preventing pregnancy by the use of deleterious
herbs. Among the barbarous people of Guiana, as well as those of the
half-civilized islands of the South Sea, young wives are fearful of
becoming mothers. If they have children, their offspring are exposed
not only to the dangers of savage life, but also to other dangers
arising from the strangest popular prejudices. When twins are born,
false notions of propriety and family honour require that one of them
should be destroyed. To bring twins into the world, say the Indians,
is to be exposed to public scorn; it is to resemble rats, opossums,
and the vilest animals, which bring forth a great number of young at a
time.
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