SOIL AND CLIMATE. 
181 
SOIL AND CLIMATE; OR, WHERE 
TO LIVE.— II. 
1. It is well to have our houses built in an airy 
position on the slope of a hill. On the hills the 
air is cooler, purer, and more bracing than in the 
low-lying districts, and it therefore makes us feel 
bright and active. We should, if possible, avoid 
the ravines, because there decaying vegetation often 
collects, and at night cold currents of air sweep 
down from the hills. In Jamaica, we do not find 
that malarial ailments trouble the people who live 
on the mountains above the height of about two 
thousand feet; tinless, indeed, coffee pulp or other 
refuse be left to rot in heaps next their houses. 
2. If a country be near the sea, the warmth of its 
air is much more steady and regular than it would 
otherwise be. This is because the water cannot be 
so quickly heated as the land, nor does it give up 
its heat so rapidly. So we find that the air of 
Jamaica does not have great and sudden changes 
of temperature, such as are felt in places on the 
mainland of America, at the same distance from the 
equator. 
3 . In our island, whether we live in a warm or a 
cool district, the warmth of the air about us does 
not vary greatly from time to time. And this is 
of great advantage to us, because sudden changes 
are not good for health. 
