83


I


beautiful  region  from  the
coast  of  Africa,  and  it  has
increased  vastly  the  mortal-
ity. It  is  said,however,  now
to  be  on  the  decrease.    Per-
haps I  am  hasty  in  adopting
the  most  generally  received
opinion  of  its  origin  by  ships
from  the  African  coast,  for
medical   men    are   by   no
means  agreed  on  this  point,
some  attributing  it  to  lo-
cal influences,  there  having
been,  during  the  prevalence
of  this  fever,  not  only  a  ces-
sation of  storms,  great  stag-
nation in  the  atmosphere,
and   other   meteorological
changes,  but,  of  late  years,
an  increased  malignancy  in
the  types  of  fever  preva-
lent.    Again,  it  is  worthy
of  note,  that  from  Rio  it  has
extended  in  a  northerly  di-  *
rection,  visiting  all  the  cit-
ies of  the  coast  of  Brazil.
"La  Plata,"  so  far,  has  been
exempt.     Montevideo  and
Buenos  Ayres,  with  a  pop-
ulation, the  former  of  one
hundred  and  twenty,  the  lat-
ter of  forty  thousand  souls,
have  never  been  troubled
by  this  scourge.*

Montevideo,  the  chief
town  and  capital  of  Uru-
guay, is  the  first  consider-

*  The  above  had  scarcely  been
written  when  the  intelligence  ar-
rived that  the  fever  had  reached
Montevideo  in  the  spring  of  1857.
34  MONTEVIDEO.
