234 diseases. [1839. 



that the climate of Australia was prejudicial to the human 

 constitution; but it is, in reality, highly favorable, for the 

 reason, probably, that as the vegetation is so scanty, the at- 

 mosphere is but little tainted by the miasma formed by its 

 decomposition. Deaths from disease are very rare ; and all 

 disorders, even the worst cases of syphilis, soon yield to the 

 simplest remedies. Endemic diseases are not at all common ; 

 and small-pox, measles, and hooping-cough, are almost un- 

 known. Dysentery is the most prevalent complaint. Chil- 

 dren suffer considerably from the presence of the teres, or 

 round worm. Ophthalmia is often produced at the south by 

 the hot dusty winds from the interior. It may be said to be 

 unhealthy within the tropics, but it is certainly less so than in 

 other countries lying in the same latitude. Typhus and acute 

 fevers prevail there during the wet monsoons ; and in the sea- 

 son of the variable winds, pectolapia, or moon-blindness, su- 

 persedes ophthalmia. Scurvy also appears to be endemic on 

 the northern coast, and manifests itself with peculiar viru- 

 lence where the tropical heat is exercised full upon the damp 

 soil. Bat even in these warm latitudes, though disease is far 

 from being a stranger, it generally puts on a mild form, and 

 is easily subdued. 



(4.) Peculiar as are the geology and climate of Australia, 

 it might be expected that the vegetable creation would pre- 

 sent appearances equally wonderful. Nature seems here to 

 have escaped from her leading strings, and displayed the pow- 

 ers of a giant. Discarding the customary shapes in which 

 she appears in the old world, she develops herself in new and 

 unwonted forms. The humble grasses that, carpet our plains 

 and valleys, here collect in tall clumps and tussocks, as if too 

 proud to spread themselves over the earth, for man or beast 

 to tread upon with impunity: and the pretty honeysuckle 

 that shelters or conceals tin- prairie home of the American set- 

 tler, or twines its graceful tendrils around the porch of the 

 peasant's cottage in merry England, rears itself in stately 

 majesty among the other denizens of the Australian forests, 

 and disdains either to give protection, or to ask it in return. 



