431 ON CORAL, REEFS AS A CAUSE OF FEVER. 
groves of cocoanut and other fruit trees, they are much su¬ 
perior, for instance to the Bugis. The Bugis settlers here I 
have always found to suffer greatly, but it can hardly be 
expected otherwise when you take their living and the way 
they take to procure it into consideration. This people being 
all traders and living by fishing, have made their habitations 
close to where they could land their prows and *; enerally just 
above the high wafer mark, and as nearly all the islands to 
the East of Java are devoid of harbours and are beaten by 
an immense surf, they are only able to effect their landings 
through the extensive reefs of coral that in some places line 
the coasts. I should also observe that much of their sickness 
must necessarily depend upon the quantity of putrid fish and 
the exhalations arising from the animal and vegetable matter 
from the reefs. The few Javanese settled here suffer also 
from fever, which I attribute to the same cause as the Bugis, 
In Lombok island, in regard to the original inhabitants the 
case stands alike to Bali, wherever there is a similarity of 
country—but it differs as at Labuan Triang (or the cove) 
where there is a land locked harbour with extensive ccral 
banks, bordering upon mud flats covered with mangrove trees 
and high hills to the back ; here there is fever. 
I have never heard of any European or Javanese who lias 
been at Labuan Triang who has not suffered dreadfully from 
cold and hot fits of fever, attended with vomiting and diarrhsea, 
generally putting an end to the sufferings of the patient in a 
few days. The fevers at Ampanan are not so severe but last 
longer; Ampanan laying close upon the beach on a narrow 
strip of land has only a small streamlet which separates it 
from the paddy fields. It is without any shelter in the S. E. 
monsoon and is then exceedingly hot, which heat is increased 
by the reflection from the black glittering sand. 
This and the proximity to the paddy fields seems to be the 
causes of its unhealthiness. All the natives of these islands 
agree that fevers are not prevalent amongst the agricultural 
population when they commence draining the paddy fields to 
cut the crops. 
It is therefore my firm belief that the fevers are much 
influenced by the exhalations from the coral reefs, as I always 
have found that the greatest sufferers were in those places 
where they exist and where the inhabitants have their dwell¬ 
ings bordering upon them. 
I remain &c., 
[Signed] J, C, Knudson. 
