Account of the Climate, Spc. of the North of France. 239 



and float down the stream when seized by the fish, and the 

 fisher has only to imitate this dull operation. In the canals 

 and ditches are pike, and an abundance of perch and other 

 small fish. I have been informed that, about twenty years 

 ago, a pike was killed of the enormous weight of 32 pounds ; 

 no one seemed to doubt the fact, but I have met with no one 

 who had himself seen such a fish. 



The canals and ditches, from time to time, become more or 

 less choked, from the continual deposition of alluvial matter, 

 and, when cleared out by the workmen, the matter ejected 

 yields a most unsupportable odour. As the riches of the 

 country depend on the keeping of these canals in repair, they 

 are cleaned out at least once every two years, besides other 

 occasional repairs ; and there is a class of workmen who near- 

 ly confine themselves to this particular occupation, which is 

 none of the most healthy. It is in autumn, winter, and spring, 

 that these operations are carried forward, and the matter eject- 

 ed is spread over the fields as manure. Nothing of the kind 

 can be more offensive to the smell, and few more pernicious to 

 health, than the vapour which continues for a long time to 

 exhale from it. Still, if we suppose a foreign army to take 

 possession of this country, it would be of the first importance 

 to protect the inhabitants, and give every possible encourage- 

 ment to the regular execution of these works, otherwise they 

 would soon and dearly pay for their imprudent conduct. 



On the sea-shore the inhabitants are, in general, more 

 healthy than in the interior; but when the sea happens to 

 break over the dikes, and the water afterwards comes to be 

 evaporated, exhalations of an extremely pernicious quality are 

 elicited, and which cause fevers of the very worst kind. 



Intermittent fevers are not so frequent here as on the coast 

 of France, in the vicinity of Rochfort. In this country the 

 ditches are less frequently dry, the temperature being consi- 

 derably lower, and the air in common much damper, the eva- 

 poration is much less active. The adult inhabitants are but 

 little subject to the attacks of the endemic fevers, but children 

 and strangers rarely escape. They are commonly attacked in 

 autumn ; at first it appears under the form of a tertian, after- 

 wards it changes to a quartan, and, about January, some 



