HONDURAS 9 



duras excels even the most favored States of the Union. Pure 

 sea breezes, blowing almost constantly over hundreds of miles of 

 ocean, act as a bracing tonic. There are no swamps to breed 

 malarial disorders, the little disease of that nature being a mild 

 type of ague which attacks some of the people who dwell on the 

 rich alluviums, and neglect all sanitary measures. 



The country is absolutely free from many diseases common in 

 other lands. Scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, croup, 

 etc., are unheard of, and yellow fever has never been known 

 there. Tuberculosis is practically unknown. There is some 

 catarrh, probably due to the want, among the masses, of com- 

 fortable dwellings and fires for warming and drying them in the 

 wet seasons. But although living, as many do, in utter ignorance 

 of proper sanitary means, and without even the most common 

 comforts, they are less subject to disease than are the people of 

 the oldest States of the Union. 



Under date of May 28, 1888, Senor Don Dion Galindo, col- 

 lector of customs for the district of Trujillo, including the De 

 partment of Colon, certified that: 



In this port, and also on the coast of this Department, we have not 

 had and have not now any infectious or contagious sickness. When we 

 learn of any such disease in Belize, or in Livingston, quarantine is estab- 

 lished in this place. This has kept the people of Trujillo in a state of 

 perfect health. 



T. A. Matute, M.D., a graduate of the University of New 

 York, registered physician and surgeon of the University of Hon- 

 duras, and army surgeon at Trujillo until he recently resigned 

 to go into business for himself, certifies as follows: 



There has not been during my six years' experience on this coast, or 

 in any previous years, any disease of infectious or epidemic character. 

 There has never been known on all this coast, from Trujillo to Puerto 

 Cortez, any case of yellow fever or any other epidemic disease, and at 

 present there is not the slightest reason to fear any infectious diseases. 



RAINFALL. 



Variations in the configuration of the surface of Honduras 

 make corresponding differences in the seasons and rainfall in 



