On the Telloiv-Fe'oer of Charleston. 25 



I think I have now shown, that, at some particular 

 periods, the yellow-fever has been nearly coeval with 

 this town. Between the years 1699 and 1703, from 

 Mr. Hewatt we find, that the white inhabitants of the 

 whole colony amounted to between five and six thou- 

 sand. The population of the town must, therefore, 

 have been very moderate. The buildins^s, it is to be 

 presumed, were much scattered ; of course, less filth 

 would be collected. It is more than probable, there 

 were then n& drains or sewers, and but a small num- 

 ber of docks and wharves. The water was, perhaps, 

 less impure than at present : in short, few or none 

 of the causes, which are now said to produce yellow- 

 fever, did then exist, and yet, in my opinion, the dis- 

 ease did undoubtedly prevail, in both those periods. 



I will now proceed to state other facts, to which I 

 must refer for confirmation of the opinion I have 

 adopted. During the years 1780, 1781, and 1782, 

 when this place was garrisoned by British and Hes- 

 sian troops, and when there were five or six thousand 

 Europeans here, whole companies of soldiers occupied 

 many of the houses, where the utmost cleanliness was 

 not observed : filth of all kinds, with putrid animal 

 and vegetable matters, abounded in different parts of 

 the town : at that time, as well as now, there were 

 docks, drains, privies, and a long et ccetera of causes 

 to produce yellow-fever, yet no symptoms of this 

 disease appeared. Our continental soldiers, many 

 of them northward men, who were crowded in prison- 

 ships, lying before this place, were, brought into the 

 continental hospital ; yet, even among them, I never 



VOL. II. PART I. D 



