Quinine Blindness

Well-known Miner's Experiences in Purari Region, T.N.G.

MR. J. L. PEADON, who has been gold prospecting and gold mining in the Ramu-Purari districts, Central New Guinea, for the past two years, arrived recently in Sydney in order to seek ex pert attention for his eyesight. It ap pears that Mr. Peadon is suffering from a rare form of what virtually is quinine poisoning—and, incidentally, Mr. Pea don’s experience should be noted by all people in the tropics who may be obliged to use quinine freely.

Mr. Peadon, when he went up to the high, cold country in Central New Gui nea, suffered from bad attacks of malaria, and finally he put himself to bed (he was quite alone, except for his team of native boys) and took no fewer than 70 grains of quinine in 24 hours. He is a man who has taken large quantities of quinine in past years—he had been 12 years in New Guinea —and he did not regard the drug as dangerous.

He broke the fever, but when he got up he was practically blind. Gradually, his sight returned, but he found that his field of vision was very much limited; al though he could see objects straight ahead quite clearly, he could see nothing at the sides. He therefore proceeded to Sydney as soon as possible and placed himself in the hands of a skilled oculist.

The latter, however, does not give him much hope; he is of opinion that, while Mr. Peadon’s remaining sight is safe, he will not recover much, if any, of the sight that he has lost. He has consequently abandoned for the present any thought of returning to the New Guinea gold field. Specialists have told him that there is always a danger of quinine af fecting the eyesight, though cases such as this are rare.

Mr. Peadon was on the Ramu for a

while, and on the upper reaches of the Purari, not far from where Captain Ber nard McGrath was murdered by natives; and while there he established a store and licensed hotel. A considerable num ber of miners have pushed into that country from the Morobe goldfields— quite sufficient to justify the hotel and store business. Subsequently, Mr.

Peadon, with 35 natives, went off down the Purari towards the Papuan border, into practically unknown country, and here he found quite profitable alluvial gold. He spent some months in this dis trict out of touch altogether with the small white settlement on the Ramu. He made friendly contact with the local na tives, whom he describes as a very fine and intelligent class, of a type similar to the Benna-Bennas. He found them friendly and tractable and, once he got their confidence, he did not have any dif ficulty in inducing them to work for him in his mining operations. He did not leave this country until driven out by his eyesight trouble.

Mr. Peadon’s store-keeping business on the Ramu has been taken over for the present by the Seventh Day Adventist missionaries. The licensed hotel business probably is in abeyance for the present.

The Ramu-Purari-Mt. Hagen plateau is described by Mr. Peadon as really mag nificent country, with a good climate, comparatively free from the diseases and pests encountered in the coastal areas, and inhabited by a fine type of native.

They are high-spirited people and are always ready for a fight; but their atti tude towards Europeans is friendly, pro vided that the Europeans know how to treat them. Much trouble, however, may be caused if these natives come in con tact with the wrong type of European.

Parties of missionaries are displaying a readiness to push into this country, and the more experienced prospectors, who are anxious that this fine type of native shall remain unspoiled, do not view the arrival of the missionaries with any en thusiasm.

“You may find in that country,” says Mr. Peadon, “one solution of all our poli tical and economic troubles. They are a healthy, happy, contented race of natives without any strikes, political muddles, re ligious differences, or doles.”