VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.

764

This remarkable peculiarity of moderate temperature in the interior of theIfle of France is confequent, ill, on the fmall extent of the ifland ; 2d, on its infularpofition in midft of the fea; 3d, on the nature of the predominant winds ; 4th, on the ex-Htence of mountains of tolerable elevation, which cover a portion of its furface; 5th, onthe forefts, which are yet extenfive in the interior of the ifland ; 6th, on the frequencyand abundance of rain ; and 7th, on the multiplicity of rivers and fprings, which main-tain a perpetual coolnefs in the inferior ftrata of the atmofphere.

At the north-weft port the temperature is much higher than in the reft of the ifland:from a long feries of obfervations made by M. Liflet, a former correfpondent of theAcademy of Sciences , the maximum of heat experiencedat the town of the port is annually28° *, 29 0 f, and even 29,5° J. The thermometer, neverthelefs, was never remarkedby M. Liflet to rife to 30° §. The months of December, January, and February arethe hotteft. It is not only on account of its higher temperature that the atmofphereof the north-weft port is incommodious and fatiguing-, its perfect ftagnation, fo frequentat this place, renders it ftill more fo. This, as well as the fuperior heat experienced there,is owing to its pofition in a deep bottom, furrounded on all fides by the mountainsLa Decouverte, Le Pover, Pieter-bot, and Long Mountain; a pofition which deprives itof the immediate adtion of thofe cooling and lalutary breezes from the fouth-eaft andfouth-fouth-eaft, of which I have before fpoken.

Barometer.] Except on occafions of hurricanes, the barometer maintains itfelf inthe north-weft port between 27 inches 9 lines and 28 inches 3 or 4 lines ; but in themore elevated plains of Moka this inftrument very rarely exceeds, and is almoft con-ftantly lower than 27 inches.

Salubrity, j Thefe remarks on the phyfical ftate of the Ifle of France are not onlyimportant in a meteorological view, but as they refer to the health of the inhabitants. Forit cannot be difficult to apprehend from the obfervations I have adduced, that the moreadtive, cool, and lighter air of Moka, the plain of Wilhems, &c. agrees much betterwith weak conftitutions and convalefcents than the ftifled atmofphere of the north-weftport; or that, on the fame account, the lively air of the plain of Wilhems is prejudicialto perfons of weak and delicate lungs : now experience, in both thefe cafes, confirms thedeductions of reafon and analogy. Notwithftanding this inconvenience, complaintwould be unjuft, as it is to thefe fame qualities of the air that the Ifle of France is in-debted for its juftly merited reputation of falubrity, and the abfence of thofe dreadfulfevers common to Batavia, the Philippines, Moluccas , Madagafcar, and the major partof the equatorial countries.

Endemial Maladies.] We mu ft not, however, with fome enthufiafts, imagine theIfle of France exempt from every endemial malady; unfortunately it is fubject to many,the more formidable from the difficulty of their being avoided. Indeed, not to mentioncomplaints in the cheft, which are very common, and of the leprofy, which, anciently un-known in this ifland, at this time reckons a number of victims, even among the whitepopulation: every kind of affedtion of the urinary paflage is known here in an extra-ordinary number of inftances, diforders that feem efpecially to depend on the quality ofthe waters, which, from the chemical analyfesof M. Delifle, appear to hold in folutiona great proportion of calcareous carbonate.

Geological picture of the Soil .] I have now given from my individual obfervations,and from the general refults I deduced from thofe made by Meflfs. Cere, Monneron,

* 8af* of Fahr. f 84} 0 Fahr. J 85 ,V Fahr. § 86® Fahr, ,