26 ITS CAUSES. [Cuap. II. 
the south side, which had the advantage of being 
exposed to the refreshing breeze of the south-west 
monsoon, from which the north was in a great 
measure shut out by the range of mountains. This 
theory, however, was soon disproved, for latterly the 
troops stationed at Aberdeen, on the south side, 
have suffered more than those in Victoria. 
My own observation has led me to the following 
conclusions :— Much of the sickness and mortality, 
doubtless, proceeded from the imperfect construc- 
tion and dampness of the houses in which our 
people were obliged to live when the colony was 
first formed; and a great deal may be also attri- 
buted to exposure to the fierce and burning rays 
of the Hong-kong sun. All the travellers in the 
East, with whom I had any conversation on the 
subject, agreed, that there was a fierceness and 
oppressiveness in the sun’s rays here, which they 
_ never experienced in any other part of the tropics, 
even under the line. I have no doubt that this 
is caused by the want of luxuriant vegetation, and 
the consequent reflection of the sun’s rays. The 
bare and barren rocks and soil reflect every ray 
that strikes them; there are no trees or bushes 
to afford shade, or to decompose the carbonic acid, 
and render it fit for the respiration of man, and 
thus the air wants that peculiar softness which 
makes it so agreeable even in hot tropical climates. 
If these are the principal causes of the mortality 
in our new colony, the remedy will of course be appa- 
rent to every one. Already a great improvement 
