UNIFORM TEMPERATURE. 181 
While no one can be any more sure in Nassau than he is at 
home, or anywhere else, of escaping an exceptionally wet, and 
to that extent disagreeable, winter, he can rely with great confi- 
dence upon having there, night and day, an atmosphere of a 
pleasant and uniform summer temperature. 
It is difficult for a native and untraveled Bahamian to appre- 
ciate what is written at the north about “the domestic hearth,” 
and “cheerful fire-side.” As poets do not confine themselves 
exclusively to the truth, but use their <‘ poetic license,” the Ba- 
hamians naturally deem Longfellow’s lines the out-cropping of 
a wild fancy when he sings: 
“Hach man’s chimney is his golden milestone ; 
Is the central point from which he measures every distance, 
Through the gateways of the world around him.” 
Certain it is, there are few such “ milestones” in Nassau. 
Persons who, for any reason, find it necessary to avoid the 
cold, damp winds and storms of the North, will find at Nassau 
a climate that fully fills the measure of their wants from the 
middle of November to the middle of April. But temperature 
and clear skies are not the only points to be considered in deter- 
mining the question of the importance of Nassau as “a great 
sanitarium,” and we have therefore extended our observations 
and pushed our inquiries in other directions. 
The drinking water, the drainage, the existence and observance 
of sanitary regulations, the topography and condition of the ad- 
jacent back country, as well as the quality and direction of the 
winds that pass over it, are all important factors in the problem 
of health, and should be carefully examined and critically con- 
sidered. 
It is just here that Nassau’s most vulnerable points are discov- 
ered, and, but for the superior sanitary arrangements of the Royal 
14 
