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Appearance among the natives of a disease resembling the small-pox-Origin and progress of that malady among the aborigines-Medical investigations-Plan of treatment-Variety of forms assumed by the disease-Its duration-The critical period-Dr. Mair's report.
About two years previous an eruptive febrile disease made its appearance among the natives of Wellington Valley, resembling the small-pox in its principal characters. Some alarm was experienced in consequence among the Europeans, to whose children the disease had as yet been fortunately unknown. About a year after I was informed it prevailed among the aborigines at the Lachlan, Burragorang, and Cox's river, and I remarked that several of the blacks at Goulburn Plains, and also at other parts of the colony, had pits on their faces, resembling those produced by small-pox, and which, they informed me, were caused by the disease in question. The name that this disease is known by among the aborigines is "Thunna, thunna," or "Túnna, tunna," and they describe it as being attended by sore-throat, head-ache, and high febrile symptoms, upon the day previous to the appearance of the eruptions; the latter were described to me as commencing in a similar manner, and passing through the same stages as is usual in small-pox, covering the face and all parts of the body, even to the soles of the feet and palms of the hands: it was also stated that adults were more covered with eruptions, and suffered more severely from the disease, than children, and the aggravation of the symptoms caused much mortality among them. Among the children it often occurred that only a few scattered eruptions would appear, and the febrile symptoms also assume a very mild character. No deaths occurred in these cases.