SANITARY CONDITION^. 189 



It should be considered that in the settlements upon some of 

 the islands, the population is very much crowded, and that the 

 health of the people suffers in consequence. Gov. Rawson, in 

 his report for 1864, estimated that the population of Dunmore 

 Town, upon the island of Eleutbera, was 2,500, and that the 

 density was " about forty persons to the acre, or 124 square yards 

 to each individual, which is nearly six times the average of the 

 781 principal towns in England " in 1861. He adds, ''the con- 

 sequence is that for the last two or three years the place has been 

 very sickly, and typhoid fever has committed considerable rava- 

 ges among the inhabitants. 



Upon a little key at the extreme north-west point of Eleu- 

 tbera, and about five miles from Harbour Island, the settlement 

 of Spanish Wells is situated. Grov. Eawson states in his report 

 of 1864, that the inhabitants of Spanish Wells "have continued 

 to divide and sub-divide their lots among their children, so that 

 the houses almost touch each other, and in some places the (so- 

 called) street is not over three or four feet in Avidth. The area 

 of the settlement does not exceed three acres; so that the popu- 

 lation is upwards of 150 to the acre." He adds, "they are un- 

 cleanly in their habits, and all attempts to introduce sanitary 

 rules among them have hitherto failed. Consequently, tyjihoid 

 fever has lingered here, too, for the last three years." 



Gov. Rawson also speaks of another settlement upon Eleu- 

 thera, called Governor's Harbor, where, he says, "the density 

 of the population equals, if it does not exceed that of Spanish 

 Wells." He says it is situated upon a rock, about 300 yards 

 long, by 100 yards wide, which is connected with the main land 

 by a narrow neck of land, and that this rock is "in miniature, 

 very like the Rock of Gibraltar." 



He also states that "the people at Devil's Point, upon St. 

 Salvador, have the worst reputation of any upon that island," 



