1.9 to 1.6. The extreme rarity of fevers of the intermittent and remittent type, is particularly striking; indeed, among the inhabitants they are said to be altogether unknown.

"The sandy nature of the soil, the rocky formation of the under strata, the total absence of marsh, and the comparative scarcity of wood and forest in Cape Town and its vicinity, have all been assigned as causes of this marked exemption from remittent and intermittent fevers; but we shall hereafter have occasion to show that in other colonies, the Mauritius for instance, these diseases are equally rare, at stations of which the physical character is directly the reverse.

Most of the cases of common continued fever are said to have arisen from the immoderate use of Cape brandy. At all events this did not add materially to the mortality. Except in 1825, the number of fever cases has been remarkably uniform. On that occasion the disease was principally confined to the 55th and 98th regiments; of the former, 73 were attacked out of a strength of 365; of the latter, 113 out of 556, being exactly a fifth in each instance. The 49th, though also at Cape Town, did not suffer more than usual, nor did the disease extend to the troops at Simon's Town. It is said, to have been somewhat different from the usual form prevalent in the garrison, assuming in most cases a mild typhoid character, and was supposed to have originated with the 98th regiment, a corps recently raised, and which had then newly arrived in the garrison.

Eruptive fevers have been exceedingly rare.

Diseases of the Lungs. In most of the Medical Reports, the prevalence and fatal character of this class of diseases is strongly commented on, under the impression that, owing to the sudden changes of temperature and violent gusts of wind to which Cape Town is exposed, the troops are more subject to them than in other colonies. We find, however, the reverse of this to be the case. For, on comparing this and other Reports, it turns out that, the deaths annually per 1000 of the strength from all diseases of the lungs in the Colonial Stations were the following:-Windward and Leeward Command, 10 4-10; Jamaica, 7 5-10;-Gibraltar, 5 3-10;-Malta, 6;-Ionian Islands, 4 8-10; Bermuda, 8 7-10;-Canada, 6 9-10;-Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 7 1-10; and Cape District, 3 9-10.

"This shews better than any other description of evidence can possibly do, how erroneous is the impression that the climate of this district has any peculiar tendency to excite or aid in the development of pulmonary affections. On the contrary, the aggregate mortality from them is less than in any of the colonies above referred to, and the degree of prevalence is greatly under the average, though, according to the generally received opinions on such subjects, the climate might be supposed much more likely to induce them.

This error has probably originated in there being hitherto no document whereby a medical officer could compare the influence of the same diseases in other colonies with that in which he is serving; consequently, in healthy climates, where the admissions and deaths by diseases of the lungs must always form a considerable proportion of the aggregate sickness and mortality, their influence is apt to be over-rated, while in unhealthy climates, where they form a comparatively small item in the general mass, the reverse is the case, though they may in reality be more prevalent and fatal."

Facts, like this, are invaluable to medicine, and we must repeat that these

Reports go very far towards shaking some of the notions which have taken deep root in the minds of medical men.

Complaints of the lungs have preserved a very great uniformity in the several years through which the Report extends.

Diseases of the Liver.-Though this Colony enjoys a happy exemption from other tropical diseases, those of the liver are rather frequent in occurrence; the proportion of admissions and deaths is nearly the same as in Malta or the West Indies, 22 per thousand being attacked, and 1 1-10 per thousand of the strength dying annually by them. Neither here, nor on the eastern frontiers of the Cape, however, do they produce the same fatal effects as at St. Helena or the West Coast of Africa, though the temperature, particularly on the frontiers, ranges higher during summer than in either of these Colonies.

Diseases of the Stomach and Bowels.-This class of diseases does not in the aggregate exhibit any great degree of prevalence, the ratio of admissions compared with what has been observed among troops in the United Kingdom, being relatively as 126 to 94. It is even considerably lower than in British America; but with this marked distinction, that there, affections of the bowels show themselves chiefly in slight attacks of diarrhoe which yield readily to remedial measures, whereas in this colony, nearly one-half of the cases assume the form of dysentery, which, after repeated relapse, become chronic, and in that stage are so apt to prove fatal that the deaths average 1 in 4 of the admissions.

This distinction will account for the mortality from diseases of the bowels being thrice as high as in North American stations, and nearly five times as much so as in the United Kingdom. In that respect the troops at the Cape seem nearly on a par with those in the Mediterranean. Much of their sufferings from these diseases have been attributed to habitual intemperance, the want of due precaution when laboring under slight attacks, and an unguarded indulgence in the use of fruit, which the colony produces in great abundance.

It has been stated that regiments newly arrived suffer in this respect, to a greater extent than others, but, though that was the case in 1822 and 1825, it does not appear to have been so, on prior or subsequent occasions, when changes took place in the garrison. Very few cases, however, particularly of dysentery, have occurred from 1831 to 1836, a period during which no new corps arrived, and this seems to favor the idea of the tendency to these diseases being diminished, as the troops acquire experience in guarding against the causes likely to induce them.

Diseases of the Brain.-" This class of diseases exhibits nearly the same degree of prevalence and severity as in the North American colonies. A large proportion of the cases are said to have been, directly or indirectly, attributable to intemperance, but here this vice does not seem to produce the same baneful effects, by giving rise to delirium tremens, as among the troops in North America, where that disease is nearly tenfold as common. If the relative prevalence of deiirium tremens throughout all the colonies is investigated, it will be found rare wherever wine is procurable at a moderate rate, compared with stations at which spirits form the principal intoxicating medium; a circumstance which should

lead to the sale of the latter being placed under more rigid regulations than the former, as having greater tendency to induce permanent injury of constitution."

In noticing the various minor complaints, Major Tulloch dwells on the tendency of the climate of the Cape to induce rheumatic affections. In this respect, it is worse than the United Kingdom, or any of the colonies which have yet come under our observation. These diseases are also said to be still more common among the civil inhabitants, and are attributed to the winds, during spring and autumn, being so much surcharged with moisture, and blowing, in such violent gusts, from the mountains. The latter of these causes, may, perhaps, have some effect, but the influence of the former appears very doubtful, because on the eastern frontiers, which suffer under an extreme want of moisture, rheumatic affections are found to be nearly as common as at Cape Town.

Venereal diseases are rather more numerous than in the United Kingdom, and some of the cases are exceedingly obstinate of cure, especially when contracted from Hottentot females, whose dirty and dissolute habits are said materially to aggravate their virulence. No sanatory regulations can be said to be established.

In the winter and spring of 1825, erysipelas prevailed to a great extent in the 98th regiment, but did not attack any of the other corps; there were in all 22 cases, 3 of which proved fatal. No satisfactory reason could be assigned for its appearance, nor did it seem at all connected with any atmospheric influence observable at that period. The disease ceased as summer approached, nor has it since been common at that station.

B. Eastern Frontier District.

The troops employed on the Eastern Frontier of this colony are principally stationed in the Province of Albany, which is bounded on the west by part of the province of Uitenhage; on the north by a lofty, and in many parts inaccessible range of rocky mountains, rising to the height of from 7000 to 10,000 feet; on the south by the sea; and on the east, by the Great Fish River, and territory of the Caffres.

In the province of Albany, the mountains break into a pleasing succession of hill and dale, forming a rich pastoral district. The soil in most parts is alluvial, but on approaching the sea, where the surface declines into a succession of level plains, it becomes light and sandy.

The aspect of this part of the colony is described as being extremely pleasing the high grounds are in general thickly covered with bush, but the low grounds are open, and occasionally dotted with clumps of mimosa, which gives them the appearance of an extensive park. Though intersected with streams and rivulets, these frontier provinces frequently labor under a great want of water. Except in the vicinity of the sea, but little dew is deposited at night; and as rain only falls in any quantity during the months of November, December, and January, the herbage is frequently destroyed for want of nourishment. Even the water requisite for the use of the troops is sometimes difficult to be procured; and, in consequence, the positions occupied by them along the frontiers have been selected, not so much with reference to the facility the ground may happen to afford for the

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purpose of military defence, as from its vicinity to some of the rivers ensuring at all times an adequate supply of this necessary of life.

The climate in different parts of the frontier varies very materially; about Graham's Town and near the sea coast the winter nights are sharp and clear, accompanied by slight frosts, while the summer heat, though sometimes intense, is generally tempered by a cooling breeze. At some of the posts, however, which do not possess this advantage, and where the wind is heated by the arid and sandy surface of the interior, the temperature during summer is excessive. On the Keiskamma and Great Fish Rivers, for instance, the thermometer about noon has been frequently known to range for several weeks, from 105° to 110° in the shade, and from 135° to 140° in the sun; and even during several months it has seldom been under 95° at that hour. This portion of the colony, however, is, throughout the whole year, subject to very sudden transitions of temperature: the thermometer in summer has been known to fall from 110° to 64° in the course of a few hours, and, in winter, though it is often as low as the freezing point at night, it sometimes rises to 70° or 80° at mid-day. The degree of heat in summer is in a great measure regulated by the quantity of rain in the preceding season; if the fall has been plentiful, the summer is comparatively cool, if scanty, the

reverse.

Notwithstanding the extremely high temperature of this climate, its salubriety is probably unequalled in any portion of the globe. As a proof, Major Tulloch states, that, in the three adjoining districts of Somerset, Albany, and Uitenhage, the deaths in 1833 did not amount to more than 327, in a population of 30,000 being only 1 in 91, which is much lower than has ever been observed even in the very healthiest districts of Great Britain. It is no doubt, possible, that from the effect of immigration, there may be a greater proportion of persons in the prime of life in these provinces, than in a country of which the population is stationary; but even making all due allowance for that contingency, we have sufficient evidence that the climate of these provinces is, in an eminent degree, favourable to the European constitution.

The duty of the regular troops, even in years when no warfare prevailed on the frontier, has generally been of a more varied and active description than in other colonies. As occasion required, they have been employed in erecting forts, building barracks, making and improving roads, escorting stores and supplies from the sea-coast to the different stations in the interior, guarding cattle in the field to protect them from the inroads of the Caffres, or patrolling the country in various directions in search of them when stolen. Though these duties have necessarily caused much exposure under an excessively high temperature, they do not appear to have militated against the health of the troops.

As, in 1834, there was an irruption of Caffres, and the posts were altered while casualties from warfare necessarily ensued, Major Tulloch stops at that year, and the Report refers to stations and seasons antecedent to that date.

Port Elizabeth or Algoa Bay, being the principal sea-port of the frontier districts, first claims our attention. It is nearly 500 miles from Cape Town; and as this distance, if travelled overland, would prove exceedingly harassing

and injurious to troops, from the arid nature of the country through which they would have to pass, all detachments and reliefs for the force on the frontier, are sent by sea from Cape Town to this port, whence they are marched into the interior. Military supplies are forwarded by the same route; consequently the station always requires the presence of a small garrison, to aid in unloading the Government stores, and protecting them from depredation. On this duty an officer and 30 men have usually been employed, under the medical superintendence of an assistant-surgeon. The barrack accommodation is so-so. A good hospital is to be built, for the sake of patients sent from the interior, who often derive much benefit from the change of air. From its proximity to the sea, the temperature during summer is nearly ten degrees lower than in the interior. The soil enjoys a greater share of moisture, dew falls more abundantly, and the climate has always had a high character for salubrity.

About 100 miles in a north-easterly direction from this port, lies

Graham's Town.-The capital of Albany, and head-quarters of the eastern division of the colony. Though this town is situated at the foot of a range of hills which intersects the province from north-west to south-east, yet, as there is a gradual ascent all the way from Port Elizabeth, it stands at least one thousand feet above the level of the sea. One of the chief branches of the Cowie river flows through it, and the soil in the vicinity is good, but there is little cultivation, owing to the supply of rain being very precarious; except in seasons of extreme drought, however, this part of the colony produces excellent pasturage.

The force quartered here has varied according to circumstances, but has generally amounted to about 400 men, principally infantry of the line, and a few artillery.

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This station is subject to a high degree of temperature in summer, and to comparatively severe cold in winter. Snow is rare, but ice is often formed of considerable thickness.

The influence of the hot winds which blow over the sandy surface of the interior, is occasionally experienced here during summer, when the air becomes so arid, as to create a parched disagreeable sensation in the mouth and organs of respiration, accompanied by restlessness and slight febrile excitement. Dew is very rarely deposited, and there is a deficiency in the supply of rain, though not so great as at some of the stations further to the eastward. Notwithstanding these peculiarities, however, the climate is uncommonly salubrious, and severe or protracted indisposition is of rare occurrence among the troops.

Fort Brown-Nearly 18 miles north-east of Graham's Town, is situated on a rising ground close to the banks of the Great Fish River, and surrounded on every side by bare rocky hills, of slight elevation. The soil along the banks is of good quality, affording excellent pasturage, but beyond that, is light and sandy, and the surface either barren or thickly covered with bush. The station suffers much from want of rain; indeed, during a great part of the year the bed of the river is nearly dry. Owing to this circumstance, the supply of vegetables is very scanty, and, having to be brought from a considerable distance, they are too dear to admit of being in general use among the troops.