PORTO CABELLO. 179 
the town, where they were kindly received by a 
French physician, M. Juliac, whose house contain- 
ed an interesting collection of .zoological subjects. 
‘This gentleman was principal surgeon: to the royal 
hospital, and was celebrated for his profound ac- 
quaintance with the yellow fever. . He stated, that 
when he had treated his patients by bleeding, ape- 
rients, and acid drinks, in hospitals where the sick 
were crowded, the mortality was 33 in 100 among the 
white creoles, and 65 in 100 among recently-disem- 
barked Europeans; but that since a stimulating 
treatment, and the use of opium, benzoin, and alco- 
holic draughts had been substituted for the old debi- 
litating method, the mortality had been reduced to 
20 in 100 among Europeans, and 10 among natives. 
. The heat of. Porto Cabello is not so intense as 
that of La Guayra, the breeze being stronger and. 
more regular, and the air having more room to cir- 
culate between the coast and: the mountains. The 
cause of the insalubrity of the atmosphere is there- 
fore to be sought for in the exhalations that arise 
from the shore to the eastward, where at the begin- 
ning of the rainy season tertian fevers prevail, which 
easily degenerate into the continued typhoid. It has 
been observed that the mestizoes employed in the 
salt-works have a yellower skin when they have suf- 
fered several successive. years from these fevers. The 
fishermen assert, that the unwholesomeness of the 
air.is owing to the overfiowings of the rivers and 
not to inundations of the sea, and it has been found 
that the extended cultivation along the banks of the 
Rio Estevan has rendered them less pestilential.. 
' The salt-works are similar to those of Araya, 
near Cumana, but the earth at Porto Cabello cons 
