218 



SUDDEN DEATHS. 



extremes of heat and cold, and must in a 

 degree affect the constitution from the sudden 

 transitions of the weather. The direct heat of 

 the sun at the time of my arrival, was unusually 

 great, and very oppressive. The thermometer 

 stood at 97, and 98, in the shade, and ranged 

 from 120, to 130, in the sun. In consequence 

 of this excessive heat, a greater mortality pre- 

 vailed, than ever ordinarily happened in the 

 city in one week before. Nearly sixty sud- 

 den deaths occurred — thirty-three principally 

 among the Irish labourers from drinking cold 

 water, and others from apoplexy, and inflama- 

 tion of the brain. So vast a country as 

 America, extending on each side of the equator 

 nearly from the north to the southern pole, 

 must necessarily have every variation of soil, 

 as of climate. From the richness of its natural 

 productions, it has been justly called ' A 

 treasury of nature,' holding out every en- 

 couragement to industry, and all that can 

 engage the enterprize of man. Should the 

 people of this immense continent be formed 

 eventually into great Independent States, they 

 promise to become, in union, the most power- 

 ful and happy people in .the world. 6 The eyes 

 of the oppressed are even now turning wist- 

 fully (says an able writer on the advancement 



