CLIMATE. 



45 



Europeans, however, complain that they are 

 never free from the latter. The endemic com- 

 plaint is a sphagadenic nicer upon the legs and 

 parts most distant from the seat of circulation. 

 Here, as in Ahyssinia, in Yemen, in the Hejaz, 

 and at Jerusalem, the least scratch becomes an 

 ugly wound, which will, if neglected, destroy life. 

 The cause may be found in the cachectic and 

 scorbutic habit induced by the want of vegeta- 

 bles and by brackish water ; the pure element 

 is, indeed, to be found in the old wells beyond 

 the town and on the mainland ; but the people 

 save trouble by preferring the nearer pits, where 

 water percolates through briny coralline. The 

 town has suffered severely from epidemics, small- 

 pox, and what strangers call the plague. The 

 citizens still remember the excessive mortality of 

 1818, 1832, and 1835. At Mombasah I heard 

 nothing about the curious influence which the 

 climate is said to exercise upon cats, causing a 

 sandy-coloured fur to be exchanged for ' a coat 

 of beautiful short Avhite hair ' ; and producing, 

 according to others, complete baldness, like the 

 Uemedio dogs of the Brazil and the Argentine 

 Republic. 



Mombasah, as has been seen, trades with the 

 Wanyika for copal, Avith the people of Cliaga 



