Chap. XXII. THE HEALTH OP OUR TROOPS. 



437 



and when the northerly winds come down, causing 

 a sudden depression of temperature, natives as 

 well as foreigners suffer much from fever and 

 dysentery. The excessive summer heat seems to 

 weaken the constitution, and thus renders it more 

 easily affected by the sudden changes of tempera- 

 ture which occur at this period of the year. The 

 ■rivers of China are particularly unhealthy at this 

 season^ a fact which ought to be kept in view by 

 the commanders of our ships of war. 



When the monsoon is fairly set in,' in October, 

 the climate of Shanghae and Ningpo is as healthy 

 as that of any part of the world. Although the 

 sun is hot during the day at this time, the air is 

 cool and bracing and the nights are cold. In the 

 end of October the thermometer sometimes sinks 

 as low^ as the freezing point. December, January, 

 and February are the coldest months of the year, 

 the cold then being quite as severe as it is in 

 England. Snow frequently falls, but the sun is, 

 too powerful to allow it to lie long upon the 

 ground. Ice of a considerable thickness is formed 

 annually upon all the lakes and canals. 



About Canton the winters are much warmer 

 than they are at the more northern ports ; the 

 thermometer rarely falls to the freezing-point, and 

 ice and snow are of very rare occurrence. But 

 the climate here, although perhaps not so bracing 

 to a European constitution, seems perfectly healthy 

 during the winter and spring months. 



For eight or nine months out of the twelve, 



2 G 2 



