BOMBAY. 
183 
other parts of India, gentlemen are to be met with, who have en- 
joyed their health in defiance of intemperance, or with great abste- 
miousness, and both recommend their own example ; yet, in my 
mind, both are exceptions to a general rule : hundreds certainly 
perish from intemperance ; and the abstemious life of the native by 
no means shelters him from fevers, and their result with him is 
more frequently fatal, from the impossibility of lowering his tem- 
perament when attacked. 
The rage for country houses prevails at Bombay as generally as 
at Madras, and the same inconveniences attend it ; for as all busi- 
ness is carried on in the fort, every person is obliged to come in the 
morning, and return at night. The Governor is almost singular in 
living constantly in town, having lent his country house at Perelle 
to Sir James Mackintosh. This place was the property of the Jesuits, 
and is the handsomest in the island. The apartments and verandahs 
are extremely handsome, and the former chapel on the ground floor 
is now a magnificent and lofty dining-room. It has, however, the 
inconvenience of not being open to the sea breeze, and appears to 
be far from healthy, for Sir James and Lady Mackintosh, with a, 
great proportion of their family^ have been attacked by an inter- 
mittent fever. The generality of the country houses are comfortable 
and elegant ; and if they have not the splendid Grecian porticos of 
Calcutta and Madras, they are probably better adapted to the cli- 
mate, and have most unquestionably the advantage of beautiful 
views; for even the Island of Bombay itself is broken by several 
beautiful hills, either covered with cocoa-nut tree groves, or villas 
of the inhabitants. 
It cannot be expected that the third Presidency in point of rank, 
