158 Dr. Heifer's Fourth Report [No. 98. 



with the sea coast, and presenting the greatest facilities for com- 

 munication. 



III. The next advantage which these countries possess over 

 all parts of India Proper — an advantage of the greatest im- 

 portance to European settlers — is the great salubrity of the cli- 

 mate, which is so remarkable, that the provinces are considered 

 by persons who have had opportunities of comparing the differ- 

 ent climates of America, to belong to the most healthy for 

 the European constitution of all known tropical countries. To 

 be convinced of this truth, it is only necessary to compare the bills 

 of mortality kept by the medical gentlemen of the European Bri- 

 tish corps, stationed at Maulmain and its dependencies, which 

 prove that the rate of mortality scarcely ever exceeds, and is 

 sometimes less than it would be under similar circumstances 

 in Europe. 



To account satisfactorily for this phenomenon is very dif- 

 ficult, when we see the countries almost bordering upon the 

 provinces are counted amongst the most fatal of India; Arra- 

 can in particular, where the general appearance and form of 

 the country, as well as the nature of its productions, are said 

 to be similar to Tenasserim. 



No other reason can be found, than that the country is 

 either part of a narrow peninsula, or immediately adjacent ; 

 and that the extensive seas on both sides produce a constant, 

 though not always perceptible current of air, and consequent 

 ventilation, by which the rising obnoxious vapours of fermen- 

 ting vegetable matter, and other elements of malaria, are either 

 destroyed or carried away. 



It is certain that the Arracan fevers are scarcely known ; that 

 liver complaints are of rarer occurrence ; and pneumonic diseases 

 scarcely known. It may be even asserted that Europeans of 

 temperate habits, chiefly those not addicted to strong liquors, 

 enjoy a greater health than natives ; especially native children 

 suffering from the small pox, which occurs epidemically at 

 intervals, and carries away at times considerable numbers, much 

 more, because all the endeavours of medical gentlemen to in- 

 troduce vaccination have hitherto proved fruitless, some isolated 

 cases excepted. 



