22 THEORIES 



and are infested by tigers and other ferocious or wild 

 animals. Here and there the Chinese have cleared and 

 cultivated the ground ; and there are, near the city, some 

 sugar and nutmeg plantations. 



"The vegetation is incredibly rapid in its growth; and 

 its decay is not less wonderfully great, as may be supposed, 

 when the soil is rich, and the mean annual temperature 

 is, in the morning and evening, 79 45', and at noon 84. 



" Astonishing as it may seem under such circumstances, 

 fevers of any kind were very rare, particularly among the 

 natives. Now and then remittent fevers might occur, 

 and, yet more rarely, intermittents. Foreigners were, of 

 course, more readily attacked, but not often, except 

 through imprudent exposure to fatigue, or the sun. 



" Singapore is considered as a kind of sanatorium for 

 the Oriental invalids, who go thither from every quarter 

 of the Eastern world, to escape from malaria, or to re- 

 cover from chronic diseases." 



The empire of Brazil extends from the equator to the 

 southern tropic. It is watered by vast rivers and count- 

 less streams, abounds in lakes and marshes, and, under a 

 burning sun, smokes from the vapor of impetuous rains, 

 and boasts a vegetation unsurpassed for abundance, va- 

 riety, and rapid transitions. Along an extended coast, 

 the mountain ranges are nearly parallel to the sea ; so 

 that behind them the sea breeze exerts no cooling power, 

 and the air is stagnant and hot. Even at Rio Janeiro, 

 the latitude of which is nearly 23, the temperature is 

 very high, and the atmosphere often excessively languid 

 and oppressive. " In the city," says Dr. Horner, of the 

 United States Naval Service (293), " the thermometer had 

 been 90 degrees in the shade. Night and day the tem- 

 perature in my state-room was 86." The sluggishness 



