132 TRINIDAD. 



privilege of a dry atmosphere, are salubrious. Such are, for 

 instance, Cumana and the Island of Margarita, both of which 

 enjoy a very dry though warm climate ; such are, also, the 

 islets in the Gulf of Paria. The Portuguese, and other white 

 immigrants, have no objection to field-work during the heat of 

 the day ; but they have much dread of rain, and of humidity 

 generally. They all agree in saying, "that the sun will not 

 cause fever, whilst rain invariably does so." 



In order, therefore, to allow of a free and speedy drainage, 

 houses should be built on a gentle elevation ; whilst carefully- 

 made and well-paved gutters should carry off the surplus water. 

 Dwelling-houses should be raised on brick or stone pillars, to 

 give free access to a current of air beneath the flooring, and 

 means of ventilation provided by a sufficient number of windows 

 and of ventilators in the upper part of the apartments. The 

 sleeping-rooms should be as large as possible ; and, finally, it is 

 very important that houses should be protected on the marsh 

 side by a plantation of trees, always, however, at a certain 

 distance from the dwellings : bamboos would answer admirabl 



As may have been anticipated from the above remar 

 Trinidad is mainly subject to those diseases which belong to a 

 warm damp climate, viz., to fevers and dysenteries. These are, 

 in fact, the most prevalent maladies ; and the observation made 

 by Annesley, that two-thirds of the deaths in tropical regions 

 are caused by the effects of marsh effluvia, is fully borne out in 

 Trinidad. 



Remittent and intermittent fevers attack all classes; the 

 female sex and the aged, however, are less subject to them. 

 They are particularly prevalent amongst children — convulsions 

 being one of the most common symptoms in severe cases. 



Europeans and unacclimatised persons, as well as children, 

 are commonly attacked with the remittent, and native adults 

 with the intermittent type. Congestions of the different organs, 

 but mainly abdominal plethora, accompany remittent fevers. 

 These may under unfavourable conditions terminate in black 

 vomit ; thus showing the great analogy, almost the identity of 

 nature, in the remittent and yellow fevers. And though 

 Trinidad is, perhaps, more subject to remittent fever than the 

 Great Antilles, Vera Cruz, and New Orleans, yet yellow fever — 

 that plague of the west, which may be said to be endemic in 



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