EFFECTS OF A WINTERLESS CLIMATE. 157 



Except at great altitudes such climates are always 

 found more or less prejudicial to the health of European 

 residents, even while taking every precaution. Neverthe- 

 less some few exceptionally healthy stations situated 

 upon the coast line, near the equator, may be enumer- 

 ated ; as for instance Para, on the mouth of the Amazon, * 

 and the Dutch settlement at Batavia in Java; and 

 especially our own important naval station at Singapore, 

 which is reported to be one of the healthiest places in 

 he tropics, though situated only about 80 miles north 

 of the line : f this is mainly owing to its situation 

 on a low but healthy island, where there* is almost 

 always a light but pleasant breeze blowing, while the 

 nights especially are very cool and refreshing, and 

 enable people to sleep without difficulty. 



Still, even though no regular endemic fever prevails, 

 " Europeans cannot escape the debilitating influence 

 of a hot, damp, winterless climate ; there are therefore 

 very few rosy cheeks in Singapore. Curiously enough 

 the neighbouring territory of Johore on the mainland, 

 is very unhealthy; and still more deadly is the adjacent 

 island of Sumatra, where the Dutch troops die like sheep. " 



In no part of the world, perhaps, is the aspect of a 

 place as regards the prevailing winds so important as 

 in these equatorial countries, where the still, steamy, 

 moisture-laden atmosphere maintains the temperature, 

 day and night, throughout the year, almost constantly 

 at a fixed point. At Batavia, for instance, one of 



* We regret to say that recent accounts show that yellow fever seems 

 gradually to be becoming endemic at this previously healthy station : 

 probably on account of its insanitary and dirty condition. 



f Encyclop. Brit., gth Edit., Vol. xxii, p. 93. 



Seas and Skies in Many Latitudes, by the Hon. R. Abercromby, 

 1888, p. 303. 



