582 
ON CORAL REEFS AS A CAUSE OF THE FEVER 
no vegetable matter in that stage of decomposition which a habitual 
observer of marshes knows to be capable of generating malaria; nei¬ 
ther is there any odour of decomposition, but every thing is dry and 
to the senses salubrious- This assertion of mine in contradiction to 
that of good and grave authorities, is borne out by facts. The vil¬ 
lage of Serapong, which we have had under examination, is situated 
as it were betwixt two hills, on the slopes of which nothing else but 
pineapples grow, and the fever, as we have shewn, is not endemic 
in that village. On the 6th of June, 1847, after examining the lo¬ 
cality of Ayer Bandera, where the fever is endemic, we ascended 
the hill to the height of about 46 to 50 feet and came to a house 
about 60 yards from the mangrove swamp and about £ of a mile 
from the place where we started. In this house were 2 men, 2 women, 
and 2 children, who had been sick, but were now quite well; their ap¬ 
pearance was not unhealthy. After skirting the hill for a short dis¬ 
tance, w r e descended into a valley, in which were 3 houses, partially 
open to the sea, but shut out to a great extent by mangrove trees; 
in one house were 13 people, an old man was sick and had been so 
for 10 years, but not with fever; in the 2 other houses were 3 or 4 
persons who were quite well. These houses were surrounded by 
pineapples, and though situated in a valley, yet was it so narrow as 
to act as a drain, and carry off immediately to the sea all the rain 
that fell. From this we ascended to the hill through pineapples 
and champada trees, and so crossed to the other side of the island. 
Before rounding the hill we came to a house inhabited by 3 old 
people, who were quite well and had never been sick ; they were 
surrounded on all sides with pineapples On rounding the hill we 
came to another house with the sea in front and below. The old 
man who lived there had lost in 30 years eleven of his friends in 
this house, and he alone of all his family lived to tell the tale. This 
must strike the reader as remarkable, as it did us, that where the 
houses were land locked, no fever shewed itself, hut no sooner did 
we reach one that was exposed to the influence of the sea, than we 
found fever to be prevalent on that spot. In other parts of this Is¬ 
land where the Bugis cultivate the pines and place their houses at a 
distance from the sea, or better still interpose a hill, or cluster of 
trees, we invariably found them free from fever. In April 1848 I 
visited the only remaining unexamined house in the island in com¬ 
pany with Mr. Lobb, and found in it 5 men who had lived there 3 
years, without an attack of fever. One had enlarged spleen, but 
