3>rt. little’s coral theory. 
696 
of the officers attacked by fever had previously slept on shore. 
Such was the case with the late surgeon of the Auckland, with the 
late Captain Charles Grey, with Mr Scott, with Captain Young, 
and with many others, and such likewise was the case with the 
marines of the Mseander. 
That vessels lying close off a fresh water swamp should be more 
or less liable to fever, is scarcely to be wondered at, but when Dr 
Little brings forward the cases which occurred on board the Nemesis, 
he should have remembered, that the crew of that steamer, had 
recently been employed on a harassing river service, and that they 
had been exposed for fifteen days to sun, and rain, in open boats. 
According to Dr Little’s theory the vessels lying off Labu- 
an should (b e ^ n g a quarter of a mile nearer to the reefs) have 
been m ore sickly or at least equally sickly, with persons living on 
the pkiin, but this conclusion is not borne out by the result, and we 
shall proceed to state facts which Dr Little must reconcile to his 
views—as best he can. 
In 1845 the squadron under command of Sir Thomas Cochrane 
separated mid-way between Labuan and Moarra, and' whilst the 
Agincourt and others, remained outside the latter island, the Wol¬ 
verine and Cruizer proceeded to the former, and anchored in the 
creek, within one hundred yards of the beach. The two Brigs 
continued from the 5th to the 14th of August, with their crews 
daily ashore, exposed in cutting wood for the steamer, and yet 
did not suffer at all from fever , though the prevailing southerly 
winds blew over the reefs into the creek ! I beg Dr Little parti¬ 
cularly to remark however, that though exposed to the reefs, this 
anchorage is protected from the miasm generated on the swampy 
plain by a belt of trees and jungle ! ! 
In 1846 the case was still stronger, at a later and more sickly 
season of the year, when the S. W. monsoon was at its height. 
The Agincourt and Iris, were anchored about a quarter of a 
mile off the island of Moarra, the Hazard off Chermin,-—the 
Spiteful and Phlegethon in the town of Brune, and the Ringdove 
wooding for the steamers in the creek at Labuan. The boats 
crews and marines of all these vessels (excepting those of the 
Ringdove) were employed on active service and very much 
exposed, and the consequence was that a remittent fever broke 
out ; and all the ships suffered more or less previously to visiting 
Labuan where the squadron only remained two days. The 
Agincourt suffered most severely, but it is remarkable that the 
portioh of the crew left aboard off Moarra, was likewise attacked 
by remittent fever before the return of the party on active service, 
and the island of Moarra, where fresh water swamps abound, but 
where there are no coral reefs, was condemned by the medical men 
as an unhealthy locality. Whilst however the crews of the vessels 
employed in active service, or anchored off Moarra, suffered from 
