PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
c.o.
Reference :-
885
1 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
102
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
Iodide of potash, 4 oz- Iodine, 1 oz.
Oil of cloves, 1 oz.
White hellebore, 2 lbs.
Elaterium, I drachm
Kreosote, 1 oz.
Lard, 2 bladders.
Magnesia, 2 lbs.
Muriate of ammonia, 1 lb.
Muriate of morphia, 2 drachms.
Nitrate of potash, 1 lb.
Quassia, 2 lbs.
Scammony, 1 oz.
Starch, 6 lbs.
Sulphate of iron, oz.
Turpentine, 2 quart bottles. Citrine ointment, 6 oz.
Aqua potassa, 1 pint.
Before we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on the outward voyage, it was found that some of the medicines had become exhausted, and the deficiencies were there supplied, and this supply proved adequate to the requirements of the outward voyage; but for the homeward voyage with Chinese it was found impossible to obtain several important articles of the materia medica, although eventually, as will be seen, these defects were supplied.
At Amoy a supply of medical atores and comforts was laid in. Sago of fine quality was procured, and during the homeward voyage was freely supplied to the sick twice a day. One dozen bottles of brandy and six dozen of beer were also taken as stores,
On calling at Singapore a farther supply of medicines and stores was procured, such as jalap, ginger, camphor, kino, iodide of potash, calomel, lard, &c., but some of these were found to be of bad quality.
At Anjar farther supplies were obtained from the shipping, such as blistering fluid, sweet spirits of nitre, nitre, &c.; and at the Cape of Good Hope, when our previous supply of medicines had become exhausted, especially such as were required in the treatment of dropsy, one gallon tincture of digitalis, one gallon sweet spirits of nitre, sulphuric ether, laudanum, jalap, ginger, nitre, acetate of potash, cream of tartar, calomel, two cwt. chloride of lime, &c. &c. were obtained.
It is true that the medicines contained in the foregoing official list might suffice for the exigencies of a voyage during which no endemic or serious disease occurred among the crew or immigrants, but it is clearly altogether inadequate to the necessities of such a case as occurred on board the "Lord Elgin." Not increly are the quantities of the medicines insufficient, but many most essential articles of the materia medica are altogether wanting.
Reply to Question No. 2.
The long boat was set apart at Amoy as án hospital. It was floored and roofed over, and had curtains at each side which could be raised at pleasure.
The long boat could accommodate 14 patients besides the keeper and his assistant. It was but a pool substitute for an hospital; for the access to it was at the height of eight feet above the deck, and the change of position caused by the tacking of the ship—a thing of incessant occurrence during the first three months of the voyage-was very injurious to the enfeebled sick.
Reply to Question No. 3.
A supply of water was laid in at Singapore on our outward voyage, in case any difficulty might arise at Amoy in finding a sufficient supply. On the voyage from Singa- pore to Amoy dysentery appeared among the officers and crew on board, and as the water had a most offensive smell and taste, I ordered the whole of it to be rejected on our arrival at Amoy; and after cleansing the casks, which were very indifferent, had them filled with Amoy water. The water at Amoy is very impure, containing a large quantity of vegetable matter and fine clay; but as we followed the custom which prevails universally in China, of boiling all the water used for drinking and culinary purposes, and as it was water similar to what the immigrants had been accustomed to use, I anticipated no bad results.
At Singapore all the empty water casks were filled up, I believe to the amount of
25 tons.
I sent
The water supplied to the shipping at this place is very impure, containing a large quantity of vegetable matter in a state of decomposition. Knowing the quality of the water, Í resolved to use every means in my power to prevent bad consequences. on shore for quick lime, but none could be procured, and I therefore used alum, a certain quantity of which was added in solution to each cask.
A small supply of water of good quality was taken in at Anjar.
At the Cape of Good Hope a further supply of water was taken in. The water there
is from a mountain torrent, and is very pure.
I may here add, that it is my opinion that change of water during voyage is to be avoided as much as possible, even although the water at first may not have been of the very best quality.
(Signed)
I have, &c.
DAVID SHIER, M.D., Physician, "Kitty," February 3, 1853
EMIGRATION OF CHINESE COOLIES.
No. 37.
Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor HENRY BARKLY to the Duke of NEWCASTLE.
(No. 32.)
MY LORD Duke,
Government House, Feb. 26, 1853.
103
No. 37.
1853, No. 4.
In reporting the arrival of the "Glentanner" and "Lord Elgin," with Despatch, Jan. 24. the first Chinese immigrants ever brought to this colony, I reserved the expres sion of any deliberate opinion as to their comparative efficiency as agricultural labourers until I should have longer and better opportunities for inquiry and observation.
2. I have accordingly since availed myself of every means at my command to ascertain the views of medical men as to their constitutions, of magistrates as to the docility of their dispositions, and of planters as to their habits of in- dustry; and having spent a day in visiting the plantations on which they are located, inspecting the healthy in their cottages, the sick in the hospitals; and having gone through the pay lists to see the amount of their earnings during the few weeks of their residence, I am happy to state that I feel myself justified in confirming the somewhat sanguine impression which I have from the first communicated to Her Majesty's Government, of the probable value and im portance of this new source of future immigration to British Guiana.
3. Debilitated by sickness and privation during their tedious voyage hither, as were most of the immigrants alluded to, it might have been anticipated that they would prove peculiarly susceptible of the intermittent fever and ague, so common in this country, or even of the epidemic fever which still continues its ravages among those of European origin newly arrived; but the report of the surgeon-general shows that out of twenty-nine invalids admitted on arrival to the public hospital a single case of each type has alone been exhibited, whilst the recovery of the man who caught the yellow fever, who as yet forms the solitary exception to the three hundred and odd other immigrants, corroborates, as Dr. Blair observes, the idea that the vital organism of the Chinese is exceed- ingly strong.
His estimate, that double the mortality would have occurred among Africans or coolies exposed to equal hardships, was more than confirmed to me by the opinions of the medical men who have attended those who were sent to the estates on the other side of the River Demerara; one and all the managers, moreover, agreeing that the proportion of the whole who had com- plained in any way of sickness was not half what it usually was during the first month or two of the acclimatization even of Calcutta coolies.
4. Although, therefore, Dr. Blair's concluding remarks as to selecting Chinese immigrants from such districts of that vast empire as most closely resemble this country in climate and geology are worthy of attention, there does not appear to be much danger in continuing the present immigration from Amoy; whilst it must not be forgotten that a change from that extra-tropical and hilly locality to the banks of the river on which Canton is situated, south of the tropic line, would materially complicate and enhance the difficulties arising from the want of interpreters, the natives of these two places being unintelligible to each other in conversation, from their different mode of pronunciation, though using a common language, and writing the words precisely in the same way.
5. In regard to the second point, the tractability of Chinese labourers, much difference of opinion prevails among those who have had the best opportunities of judging. The Dutch Government in Java down to the most recent period have been engaged in sanguinary struggles with the Chinese settlers in that island; the Mauritius planters were very glad to be quit of the party introduced there a few years ago; the captains of the vessels employed in transporting them display trepidation and alarm. On the other hand Dr. Bowring, Acting Super- intendent of Trade in China, who has been so obliging as to communicate his views on the subject of this immigration under cover of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, represents them as "of all people in the world most easily managed, if managed according to their own habits, education, and usages; but not to be safely dealt with by any despotism ignorant of their thoughts and feelings."
6. Probably the last clause explains the cause of the failures, and even terrible catastrophes, known to have occurred; but it hardly can suffice to relieve me from anxiety in regard to the preservation of order among a people of whom we
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