467 



am not convinced, that the American typhus, 

 rendered endemic on the coast as the port be- 

 comes more frequented, if it be favoured by 

 particular dispositions of the climate, will not 

 become common in the valley : for the mean 

 temperature of Caraccas is considerable enough, 

 to allow the thermometer in the hottest months 

 to keep between twenty-two and twenty-six de- 

 grees *. If there be no doubt that the typhus 

 in the temperate zone is communicated by con- 

 tact, can we be certain, that in a high degree 

 of exacerbation, it would not be equally conta- 

 gious by contact under the torrid zone, in places 

 where, within four leagues of the coast, the 

 predisposition of the organs is favoured by the 

 temperature of summer? The situation of 

 Xalapa, on the declivity of the Mexican moun- 

 tains, promises more security, because this town, 

 less populous, is five times farther distant 

 from the sea than Caraccas, and two hundred 

 and thirty toises higher ; and it's mean tem- 

 perature is three degrees cooler. In 1696, a 

 bishop of Venezuela, Diego de Banos, dedicat- 

 ed a church (ermita) to Santa Rosalia of Pa- 

 lermo, for having delivered the capital from the 

 scourge of the black vomit (vomito negro)^ y 

 after it's ravages had lasted sixteen months. A 



■ 



* Between 17° and 20-8° R. 



+ (hide y Banos , p. 269. 



