- YELLOW FEVER. 139 
the yellow fever, or calentura amarilla, had been 
known only two years there, and the mortality had 
not been very great, as the confluence of strangers 
was less than at Havannah and Vera Cruz. Some 
individuals, even creoles and mulattoes, were occa- 
sionally taken off by remittent attacks, complicated 
with bilious symptoms and hemorrhages, and their 
death often alarmed unseasoned Europeans ; but the 
disease was not propagated. On the coast of Terra 
Firma this malignant typhus was known only at 
Porto Cabello, Carthagena, and Santa Martha. But 
since 1797 things have changed. The extension of 
commerce having caused an infiux of Europeans and 
seamen from the United States, the distemper in 
question soon appeared. It is maintained by some, 
that it was introduced by a brig from Philadelphia, 
while others think it took its birth in the country 
itself, and attribute its origin to a change in the 
constitution of the atmosphere caused by the over- 
flowings of the Rio de la Guayra, which inundated 
the town. This fever has since continued its ravages, 
and has proved fatal not only to troops newly ar- 
rived from Spain, but also to those raised far from 
the coast, in the Llanos between Calabozo and Uri- 
tuco, a region nearly as hot as La Guayra itself. It 
scarcely ever passes beyond the ridge of mountains 
that separates this province from the valley of Carac- 
eas, which has long been exempted from it. The 
following are the principal pathological facts having 
reference to this frightful pestilence :-— 
When a great number of persons, born in a cold 
climate, arrive ata port in the torrid zone, the insa- 
lubrity of which has not been particularly dreaded 
by navigators, the American typhus (black vomit- 
