TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



41 



which it is impregnated, not only causes in most 

 of the inhabitants an unpleasant sensation and 

 great lassitude, but sometimes, when it is of long 

 continuance, has still more pernicious effects on 

 the body, producing great relaxation of the nerves, 

 corruption of the juices, dysentery, putrid fevers, 

 &c. The plague, which was brought in 1813 from 

 Alexandria to Malta, and continued to rage nearly 

 a whole year, carried off a great number of the in- 

 habitants, especially of the lower class ; and this 

 distemper was found to be no less fatal here than 

 in the Levant. Of the last hundred who were 

 attacked, only four survived.* During our stay 

 the thermometer was at 26'' 00' of Reaumur, which 

 with a N.N.W. wind, we did not find oppressive 

 when walking out ; but if it had been accompanied 

 by the sirocco it would perhaps have obliged us to 

 return to the city. Dolomieut observes very justly, 

 that the nature of the wind produces a great differ- 

 ence in the external warmth and that which is felt 

 at Malta. In the harbour the thermometer was, 

 at eight o'clock in the morning, in the air 13^ of 

 Reaumur, in water from the surface of the sea 

 12° 5', and from a depth of twenty-four fathoms 

 12" ; in the evening at eight o'clock, in the air 

 11° 7<^' ; 3,t three in the morning in the air S° 4', 

 and in the water 12"". The specific gravity of the 



^ History of the Plague, as it lately appeared in the islands 

 of Malta, Gozzo, Corfu, &c. by Tully. London, 182L 

 f - Voyage aux iles de Lipari. Paris, 1783. 



