Note 491 — Chapter IV · CALIFORNIANS.
Reading edition
The Pitt River Indians 'give no medicines.' The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. 'The prevailing diseases are venereal, scrofula and rheumatism.' Many die of consumption. Force, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 157. At the mouth of Eel river 'the principal diseases noticed, were sore eyes and blindness, consumption, and a species of leprosy.' Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iii., p. 128. They suffer from a species of lung fever. Geiger, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 289. 'A disease was observed among them (the Shastas) which had the appearance of the leprosy.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 255.