dia, and acquainted generally with tropical countries and climates,
would naturally, on hearing of its insalubrious climate, express
surprise, since he could see no exciting cause. I have stated, that the
fever attached itself to particular localities. These were, the eastern
and western extremes of the town of Victoria. At the eastern end, to the
eye the most delightful spot in or near the town, there are several
patches of paddy-fields, situated in deep valleys between the hills, of
limited extent, but which, under this climate, seem to generate malaria
in quantities quite disproportionate to their size. In the morning,
these valleys may be seen, from the middle of the town, completely
filled with a dense fog, which rolls down from the neighbouring heights
immediately after sun-set, settles upon them all night, and does not
clear off till nine or ten o'clock in the morning. I know of no other
reason why this neighbourhood should be unhealthy: that it proved so
last summer, the number of its victims sufficiently testify. Of six
gentlemen who took up their quarters here, five died; and the other had
a very severe attack of fever, from which he ultimately recovered.[23]

[Footnote 23: Since these remarks were penned, another summer
has passed over Hong Kong. Sickness and death have again
prevailed there to an unusual extent, and the neighbourhood
just mentioned had its victims; amongst others, two English
ladies whose husbands I had cautioned, in March 1844,
respecting the spot they were taking their families to reside
upon. The last mail from the East continues the outcry against
the climate.]

The land at the western extremity of the town is swampy, the grass, even
on the declivities, being of a rank, spongy nature, and quite unfit for
any thing. Here the Government built barracks, in which a detachment of
Her Majesty's 55th regiment was for some time quartered: its ranks were
decimated by fever, which latterly became so virulent, that the
Authorities chartered shipping in the harbour, to receive the men still
alive. Unfortunately, the poor fellows, being weakened from the effects
of the summer, and having in all probability the seeds of disease in
them before they embarked, died afloat in great numbers. It has been
thought, that many lives might have been saved at West Point Barracks,
had that building been raised off the ground so as to admit a free
circulation of air _under_ the room