SAifiTARY AN*» METEOROLOGtCAt. 173 



tlie earth." It is proverbial that there maybe '* death in the 

 pot;" but "we should never forget that it is equally true that there 

 is often death in the pitcher and the pail; and good physicians 

 in our day, when a malignant disease is developed, immediately 

 examine the character and condition of the water supply. 



The reader must, in regard to this question of health, keep 

 ever in mind those peculiarities of the Bahama islands which we 

 have endeavored to describe. Perfectly shielded from the cold 

 by the Gulf stream, which throws its warm, wide, watery arm 

 around them on the west and north — a shield which the frost 

 king finds absolutely impenetrable — it is ensured an atmosphere 

 of unending summer. Winter, in our sense of the word, is liter- 

 ally unknown; while, at the same time, the islands are exempt 

 from the diy, scorching heat, which banishes the white race from 

 tropical regions in many parts of the world. The polar currents, 

 aciueous and aerial, are completely transformed when they en- 

 counter the Gulf Stream, and all the discomfort is quickly taken 

 out of them, so that the Bahamas, languidly reclining in the lap 

 of summer, are slightly but agreeably refreshed by the coldest 

 winds that ever reach them from the north and west. 



It is in this that their superiority as a winter resort for the 

 American people over the states of the Gulf consists. Upon the 

 main land, the north winds make a clear sweep to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. There is nothing to obstruct their course. The valley 

 of the Mississippi seems to have been scooped out to facilitate 

 their progress. With the Appellachian chain of mountains on 

 one side, and tlie Gulf Stream on the other, a great highway is 

 formed for Boreas over both the land and water sides of our At- 

 lantic coast. And he travels over it in his icy chariot altogetlier 

 too frequently for the health and comfort of those who leave their 

 northern homes to search for summer in either of the states of 

 the south. 



