1811. 
ARIDITY FAVORABLE TO HEALTH. 
275 
hoped, will not often be the case should Southern Africa become 
in future the refuge of British e?mgrants ; especially if, occupying 
some districts by themselves, their numbers be large enough to form 
an English community and preserve their own customs. 
The country we had passed over, since leaving the Karro Poort, 
offers but few spots that would tempt a European settler. Its aridity 
and unproductiveness during a great part of the year, would, if 
viewed at that season, deter almost any one. But, just after the 
rains have fallen, it puts on quite another face ; and, judging from a 
few instances in our way, in which proper care had been taken in 
gardening and farming, I believe that many spots might be made to 
wear a pleasant look throughout the year, and well repay the labor 
of an industrious settler. 
If aridity of soil and atmosphere be unfavorable to vegetation 
and agriculture, it must not be forgotten that it is highly conducive to 
health. Beneath the rich luxuriant foliage of a well-watered tropical 
country, too often lurk the fatal miasmata of fever, and the seeds of 
nervous debility, or of lingering indisposition. Just as the luxurious 
feast, or the frugal meal, bring either disease or health : the whole- 
some coarseness of the one too often rejected ; while the allurements 
of the other conduct as frequently to misery as to enjoyment. The 
almost uninterrupted good health which I enjoyed during these tra- 
vels, was, I always believed, to be attributed in a great degree to 
the general dryness of the air. 
^Ith. At about half a mile from Gaertner's station, a boor and 
his family were, in the same manner, lying with their waggons and 
cattle. He came to us to beg we would make his quarters in our way, 
stop to give some advice for his daughter who lay very ill. Accord- 
ingly, after taking leave of the hospitable German and his wife, we 
proceeded, and halted for half an hour at this man's waggons. 
Entering a low temporary hut formed of sticks, rushes, and 
mats, we found the unfortunate patient lying in a bed spread upon 
the ground. Both she and her mother had been expecting our visit, 
with hopes of hearing some cheering opinion of her case, or of 
receiving some beneficial advice. But how was I shocked the mo- 
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