CLIMATE. I/ft 
The practice of sleeping out of doors should be avoided, likewise 
that of placing the bed upon or near the ground. These pre- 
cautions are not absolutely necessary on the southern plains, 
which are so remarkably dry. It would be well, however, to 
observe the precautions concerning sleeping in any district. 
In warm climates there is always a tendency to overaction in 
the functions of the liver, spleen, and skin. Temperance, espe- 
cially in the use of alcoholic liquors, is a great safeguard against 
diseases of the first two named viscera. Drunkenness is inevita- 
ble death, and frequently within the tropics brings a speedy 
one ; and it is the more incumbent on laborers to observe tem- 
perance, as they consume a large amount of solid food daily to 
support their strength, and the exertion produces the desire to 
drink ; and fruits, juices, &c, the food of the natives, should be 
preferred. More vegetable and farinaceous diet should be con- 
sumed, and less animal food than is usual in northern lati- 
tudes ; and the constant use of the cold-water bath whenever 
attainable, appropriate clothing, comfortable houses placed upon 
well-drained spots ; these, with the avoidance of stimulating 
food and drink, will enable the colonist to resist the influences 
of climate and soil, equally well as the native. 
On the south side of the Isthmus the inhabitants are more 
cleanly than upon the northern, and bathe frequently, the streams 
being more shallow, and consequently free from alligators, which 
abound in a considerable degree in the rivers and streams on 
the northern slope. 
At Tehuantepec (as has been said) the rains are of trifling 
character, and confined to the months of July, August, and Sep- 
tember, and the prevailing diseases are those of the bowels. The 
average age of the oldest inhabitants is about 60. 
The central division of the Isthmus is perhaps the healthiest — 
a circumstance due to its elevation and better drainage. 
In October and November of 1850, the cholera broke out on 
the Isthmus and raged with considerable violence in the south 
and in the central division ; but it did not reach the Atlantic 
plains at all. 
Yellow fever has never been known to occur on the Isthmus. 
Since the establishment of the Mexican Eepublic the official 
