174 
CLIMATE. 
extending along the bayou, which is also covered by water dur- 
ing the rainy season ; but a little further, the land rises again 
in small hills, which, running westwardly, join the more ele- 
vated platform of the back country and the plain called Taco- 
teno, which is considerably higher than the village. 
I took particular care to inquire among the inhabitants, what 
were the diseases from which they mostly suffered, and how 
strangers settling among them were affected, and I ascertained 
beyond doubt, that not only Mina-titlan, but the whole plain of 
the Coatzacoalcos River, wherever inhabited, was a remarkably 
healthy country. Not a single case of yellow fever has ever 
occurred in Mina-titlan, or any other part of the Coatzacoalcos 
plain, although in the years from 1829 to 1832, when the French 
emigrants attempted to form a colony on the Isthmus, the 
number of unacclimated strangers was considerable in the 
country, and they were exposed to every kind of privation and 
suffering. Neither did I learn of any dangerous form of fever 
existing. I heard of cases of the intermittent fever, which must 
have been of a very mild type, as it was usually cured by the 
natives themselves with remedies indigenous to the country, 
such as the bark of the Palo-mulato, a tree growing abundantly in 
the Isthmus. During the time of our stay at Mina-titlan, I met 
with but one case of old-standing derangement of the bowels, 
which terminated in extreme emaciation, debility, and death,; 
the cause of this disease I traced to the habit of the sufferer of 
eating clay for many years back, a habit which in all places 
ultimately produces the same effects, namely, marasmus and 
. death. This practice unfortunately prevails to a considerable 
extent among the Indians of the Isthmus : the eatable clay has 
even become an article of commerce, and is exchanged for the 
produce of the country ; it causes the death of many children 
and increases mortality among the adults. 
I met at Mina-titlan with several individuals who formed a 
part of the French colony, and who had resided there for twenty- 
two years ; they all assured me that they enjoyed uninterrupted 
health. The appearance of the natives prove* the country to 
be healthy, and our small party had no reason to complain of 
sickness during its stay. 
