ON CORAL REEFS AS A CAUSE OF FEVER. 
430 
and brushwood betwixt the houses and ihe reef ; for I have 
found, ns previously stated in page 600 vol. II ol this journal, 
that mere proximity to a coral reef, does not necessarily 
imply, that the locality is obnoxious to fever; as the inter¬ 
position of high land, or a belt of trees, as the primitive 
jungle or mangrove swamp, may act as an effective barrier.’ 
CHAPTER II. 
Lombok, Bali, Sumbawa, Timor, &c. 
If this theory that I have broached was confined in its ap» 
plication to Singapore alone, I would have doubted its correct¬ 
ness, on account of its speciality; but wherever I examine 
amongst'the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago I find further 
and further confirmation. The Island of Lombok with which 
Singapore carries on an extensive trade has many of its poi ts 
ravaged with virulent remittent and intermittent feveis. Alt 
Karlin his work on “Tropical Australia” alludes to this island 
and the principal trading port Ampunan. “The chief com¬ 
mercial settlement on the Island of Lombok, which is resorted 
to by hundreds of ships, is situated upon an open roadstead 
not only exposed to the westerly gales but subject at all times 
to a rolling swell, which causes so dangerous a surf upon the 
beach, that communication with the shore is sometimes cut off 
for days together ; yet there is a land locked harbour within 
the distance, of a few miles (Labuan Triang) which affords 
perfectly secure anchorage and is accessible to ships of the 
largest size, but here again the climate is so unhealthy that its 
shores cannot be inhabited. The same rule applies to every 
spot similarly situated (i. e enclosed hy coral reefs and high 
land) throughout the Indian Archipelago. 5 * To add a little 
more to our knowledge of this Island I will transcribe a letter 
dated Singapore 23rd August 1848. 
To Dr. Little, 
Dear Sir, 
In reply to your favour of the 17th instant, 
as well as some previous conversations, I have hereby the 
pleasure to offer to the best of my ability, my remarks upon 
the prevailing fevers in the different places I have of late 
years frequented. . 
At Bali, fevers .are very little known amongst the Balinese, 
they being all agricultural; another reason I should say is 
that they partake of a greater quantity of sound animal food 
than the other natives; moreover in the situation and con- 
struction of their houses which are placed in the shades of 
