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Smallpox and other Disease Epidemics
(1830-94)
The most devastating effect of foreign visits
to Pohnpei was mass depopulation as a result of horrific disease epidemics.
The estimated population at the beginning of the whaling
period in 1830 was about 15,000. Syphilis
and other debilitating sexually-transmitted diseases were
already rampant on the island by the late 1830s. In 1854, the American whale ship,
Delta, arrived in Pohnpei waters. Several
of the ship's crewmembers were infected with smallpox,
and their captain quarantined them on a small, uninhabited
island. Pohnpeians made contact with these men and took
smallpox back to the main island. The disease spread at
a terrifying pace. Protestant missionary, Albert
Sturges, recorded in his journal the deaths of more than
2,000 in just the first month of the epidemic. Sturges
attempted to inoculate as many as he could, but was often
hindered by rumors spread by the sailors that the missionaries
had caused the disease. Within a year, one half of local
population was dead. By percentage and swiftness, the
smallpox epidemic of 1854 was more destructive than the bubonic plague of Western Europe. Not only did Pohnpeians have no way to
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themselves against smallpox, but their lack of understanding about how the
disease was transmitted made things worse. They believed that smallpox was similar to another minor skin
affliction common in the islands. In order to rid oneself of this disease, it was thought that a sick person should sleep with someone who was healthy. The healthy person would take away the sickness of the other. By acting on this belief,
Pohnpeians unwittingly spread smallpox to others. In addition to
the dreadful pox, there were numerous epidemics of
influenza and measles between 1856 and 1894, and these were just as deadly.
Diseases also took their toll the on the visiting
sailors. "Clean" ships arriving at Pohnpei
were exposed to the diseases and frequently lost
crew-members. Sometimes these vacancies were filled by
young Pohnpeian men who signed on as deckhands, eager for a
glimpse of the outside world. Human loss from epidemics
coupled with a low birth rate island-wide led to the near
extinction of the local population. By the late 1800s,
there were less than 2,000 Pohnpeians left alive and no more
than one child for every four adults. "Who cares?"
wrote missionary Benjamin Snow in bitter frustration,
responding to the similar situation on Kosrae Island:
"Who weeps for a lost race?"
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