OF MALARIA. 23 



of the air at Rio may be known by the name Nitheroy, or 

 Dead Sea, given by the aborigines to its harbor. The 

 climate is hot and moist; high and thickly wooded mount- 

 ains, the narrow entrance to the bay, and the numerous 

 islands impede the free passage of the wind." The site 

 of the town is low, the streets are indescribably filthy, 

 and the waters from the hills accumulate in the marshes 

 which nearly encompass the city. (Hist, of Brazil.} 

 " The proximity of the ocean, the great size of the har- 

 bor, the great height of the land about it, the many 

 hills, narrow streets, and high temperature, keep Rio, al- 

 most without cessation, immersed in a heavy, sultry atmo- 

 sphere, rendered more disagreeable by want of cleanli- 

 ness, and the exhalations from the ravines and marshy 

 grounds in its rear." (Horner.) 



Notwithstanding the presence of all the alleged mate- 

 riel for fevers, the American squadron, with a mean force 

 of 2,280 men, had, in 17 months, only 155 cases of fever, 

 of which the Concord alone, had 70 in a crew of 200, 

 when on a visit to the African coast. Not one died of 

 fever on the Brazil station. The British ship Warspite, 

 with a complement of 600 men, lay a whole year in the 

 harbor of Rio, and did not lose a man. In that time she 

 had but seven cases of fever. 



Travelers who spent some time in Rio, and who pene- 

 trated to every part of the country, are equally warm in 

 their praise of the salubrity of the climate. "It was," 

 says Walsh, the rainy season, a mortal period in other 

 tropical climates. For eight or nine hours a day, dur- 

 ing some weeks, I never had dry clothes on me, and 

 the clothes of which I divested myself at night, I put on 

 quite wet in the morning. When it did not rain, there 

 shone out in some places, a burning sun, and we went 



