48 OBSERVATIONS own THE 
man life. The fame may be obferved, with refpec& to + 
South-Carolina and Georgia, in which ftates the climate 
is falubrious; although low, flat parts of the country, 
and tuch as lie in the vicinity of the rice and indigo {wamps, 
as well as the bad quality of the water in fuch fituations, 
render fome parts of thofe countries unhealthy.—Even in 
Faft-Florida (if Captain Bernard Romans is to be credit- 
ed), the climate is very healthful—St. Auguftine, the 
, capital 
We have fome reafon for believing, that on the weft fide of the Apellachian mountain, in the 
territory ceded by North-Carolina, the period of human life may be extended to what would 
be called a great length in any part of the world. 4 
In that country, there are few marfhes or ponds.of ftagnant water. The foil is dry, and lime 
ftone abounds every where: the water is confequently very good. 
In or near the latitude of 36 degrees, we are neither to expect the extremes of heat nor cold; 
but we have noted caufesin this very latitude, which are very injurious to health : thefe caufes 
however do not exilt in the country of which lam fpeaking. ‘The Apellachian mountain efle@tu- 
ally proteéis the inhabitants from the moift and cold -eafterly winds with which we are afflitted 
in the Atlantic ftates; and the North-Weft wind, in fuch a latitude, at fucha diftance from the 
ocean and on the weft fide of thofe great mountains, haslittle of that piercing quality by which 
it is diftinguifhed in this part of the world. From the.circumftances mentioned you would in- 
fer, and experience fupports the inference, that the inhabitants of that country are neither af- 
flicted with intermitting fevers, inflammatory fevers, confumptions, nor other difeafes, which 
are ulually induced by heat and moifture or by afudden check to the perfpiration. As no part 
of that country has been fettled much more than twenty years, we are not to expect many in- 
{tances of extreme old age, among the inhabitants; but appearances are in favour of long life. 
In the year 1789, Jonathan Tipton died, in Wafhington County near Halfton River, aged ros 
years: he had lived there 20 years. Benjamin Cobb, Val. Sevier, and others, have been mention- 
ed to me, as perfons now living in that country, above 99 years old, who enjoy perfe& health; 
and ride about, as ufual, in purfuit of bufineis or amufement. 
Tam Sir, 
With the utmoft refpe& 
Your obedient Servant, 
Philadelphia, 17th March, 1791. HV. WILLIAMSON, 
+ The author of a work, entitled—** An hiftorical account of the rife and progrefs of the 
Colonies of South-Carolina and Georgia” (printed in London, in 1779,) obferves, 
that in South-Carolina, in the months of July, Auguit and September, the heat inthe fhaded 
air, from noon tothree o'clock, is often between 90° and 100°: but, that fuch extreme heat is of 
fort curation. He fays, he has feen the mercury, in Fahrenheit’s Theremometer, rife in the 
frade to 96° in the hotteft, and fall to 16° in the cooleft feafon of the year; and that others have 
obferved it as high as reo? and as low as To°--He obferves that the mean diurnal heat of the dif- 
ferent feafors, in South-Carolina, basheen, upon the moft careful obfervation, fixed at 64° in 
{pring, 79° infummer, 72° in autumn, end 52° in winter; and the mean nocturnal heat, in 
thofe feafons, at 56° in fpring, 75° in fummer, 68° in autumn, and 46° in winter: The mean 
temperature of the air is, therefore, in South-Carolina, (at leaft, in the leyel and maritime 
parts of the ftate) 64°, which is 11° lefs than whet Dr. Ruth mentions to be the ftandard tem- 
perature of the air, in the city of Philadelphia, viz. 52°3-——*‘ Jt has been obferved (fays the 
author of the hiflory of Czroiina, &c.) that, in proportion as the lands have been cleared and 
improved, and fcope given for a more free circulation of air, the climate /has hkewife become 
more 
