433 
ON CORAL REEFS AS A CAUSE OF FEVER. 
of a settlement at Port Essington.” He says it is an island 
150 miles long, and like Bali and Lombok contains some 
very high mountains ; one of these the Tomboro mountain 
is a volcano and the country has not yet recovered the 
dreadful effects of an eruption in 1815 which killed many 
of the inhabitants and by creating a famine obliged many 
of the remainder to emigrate. The Dutch have a small 
establishment at Bimah, a bay, near the N.E extremity of the 
island, which appears to be maintained chiefly for the purpose 
of obtaining horses. In relation to this but slightly known port 
Captain Knudson says The next land locked port I have 
frequented is Bimah in the Island of Sumbawa. This port is 
a complete basin, shut up all round by very high mountains. 
Lining the Bay are extensive mud flats giving the most offen¬ 
sive odours possible, being exposed to most intense rays of 
the sun. In the Bay there are likewise large oyster beds 
and coral reefs. During the middle of the day the heat is 
so severe that it is scarcely possible to breathe, when all of 
a sudden a cold blast from the mountains will make a circuit 
of the bay and those who are exposed to it invariably suffer 
from headaches. The fever of this place generally commences 
with a cold creeping sensation along the spine, afterwards 
vomiting; the hot fits are of long duration and looseness is the 
constant accompaniment of this dreadful sickness. In fact 
I hardly know one European or Country-born in the place 
who has not been afflicted, while several deaths occurred 
during my three months stay. In addition to the causes as¬ 
signed, viz, cold winds, coral reefs and mud flats, I must add 
the damp situation of the ground the houses are built on, and 
unlike to other people the country born inhabitants live 
on the mud floor, instead of having their houses elevated. 
During the S. E. monsoon, particularly in the months of 
April and May, the vapours from the mud flats and sur¬ 
rounding country are so dense that it is often impossible to 
see the vessels in the roads lying not half a mile distant from 
the shore. During these months the evenings are extremely 
hot and sultry until towards midnight, when the cold land 
wind sets in, which is so cool as to congeal the oil in the 
latnpfe. At this port a great quantity offish in a putrid state is 
used, and the water has something of a brackish taste. For 
.this fever the natives use as a remedy a tea made of tho 
4 bidara laut’ a bitter tasted wood found in the forest.” 
The island of Timor is the next referred to in iny notes, 
anti I cannot convey to the reader a better itlea ot Dilli, the 
Portuguese settlement on that island, than by transcribing a 
few communications on that place. 
