The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-10

ly so strong of body that that which
two or three of our men could hardly
bear one OF them would take upon his
shoulders and without grudging carry
IT easily away, up hill and down hill,
an English mile together" One is en-
barrassed by the choice Of testimony
as to the muscular powers of the ne
gro and in truth it is not required. for
every one has friends somewhere in
Africa. 1 have mentioned the astound-
irg feat Of the Dyak Joke within my
own knowledge; the present Rajah
Brooke and Mrs. McDougall refer to it
In their books. But other Dyaks saw
nothing wonderful in the achievement.
Humboldt weighed the loads of ore
which Indian serfs carried to the sur
face from vast depth underground In
Mexico He himself was tired for the
day with one journey empty-handed.
But those Indians brought up $40 to
$50 pounds of stone every time, and
they worked without a pause from
dawn to sunset. Humboldt's observa-
lions on the absence of dwarfs, hunch-
backs and deformed persons in general
among the Indians of America, and
their length of life, are to the point
have no room for details; perhaps the
editor will allow me to deal with them
another time. Briefly, however, defor-
mites are very rare among all saVages
and Humboldt will not admit the easv
explanation that children so afflicted
die In infancy, but of course he speaks
only Of the Indians he studied. AS for
length of life, there is plenty Of evil
dence. ! refer the reader, for instance
to most interesting report issued by
the native department of Cape Colony
In 1915, summarized by Mr. TheaI in
his history since l have not space to
quote 1t.
SOON RECOVER FROM WOUNDS.
But to my mind the clearest proof
OF vital force is shown in the rapidity
and ease with which savages in gen
eral recover from hurts that would be
fatal to white men. My attention was
drawn to this matter in youth, when
| saw Chiraman in hospital who had
loaded gun with fragments Of
broken bottle and discharged ii into
his chest because the keeper Of the
opium den refused him more credit
Since that time / have been noting
evidence when ii CHANGED to come be-
fore me, but it will be better to use
the statements of authorities here. DR.
bunker tells how a courier in the Sou
dan crawled into camp with his stom-
ach laid open, having been attacked
when asleep. comrade replaced the
contents and bound him up. To my
great surprise the wound was almost
completely healed in a few days" Carl
BOX saw Malay with a piece Of his
skull cut off-the brain was bare.
They tied on the fragment with a
dressing of serpents' fat. and "in three
weeks he was all right; a European
would have been three years or more.
Il he had lived" A similar case was
attested by Bishop McDougall, NJ d.
After an action with pirates one Of
them was brought on board with the
top of his head sliced off adhering only
by morsel OF skin. The bishop lifted
II and made brief but interesting OBJ
servation Of the brain; IL did not seem
worth while to treat a hopeless case
when there were 80 many wounded. AT
the evening meal, however, he saw this
man eating rice among the crew. with
bit of rag to hold his skull together.
In a few days the skin had Joined all
around
Rev. Mr. Pritchard. to whom anthro-
pology and folklore owe so much, de-
clared that wounds which in q white
man would quickly bring on inf1amma-
ton and even modification in these
Samoans are healed by simply daily
bathings and cleanliness A youth
was shot through the chest near his
dwelling. "As he breathed the air
seemed to come from the wound" But
"in ten weeks he was as well as ever
derstand this at all; 1t cannot be said
that we understand now, but wide ex-
perience has taught US that Il Is the
rule with savages. OF the Soudanese
Sir Charles Wilson wrote: These ne
groes are really like bits of India rub
Der. 1t is perfectly extraordinary to
see how they bear wounds and how
rapidly they heal up" And Capt.
Tounghusband wrote in Chitral: There
is no doubt Asiatics stand wounds in
ficted by sword or a bullet infinitely
better than Europeans. A wound that
would kill European. or at any rate
lay him up for months, affects these
hardy and abstemious mountaineers In
a very much less severe manner. Imag-
inc having the whole lock of an ex-
ploded gun blown into ones shoulder
and going about as IL nothing had hap
pened. Such lock was cut out by our
surgeons several months after. They
report marvellous cases of recovery"
Health, strength and long life are
some OF the compensations Of savagery.