the opposite coast, who would gladly
work for three dollars (13s. 6d.) per month. Were a couple of thousand
of these put upon this job for a twelvemonth, there would not be much of
the hill left. The pecuniary outlay would be considerable; but the
returns would do much more than pay the interest on it. The base of the
hill itself is of considerable extent; and the earth carried from its
top, if thrown into the sea at its foot, would create a large level
space for building, that would yield quit-rent enough to render the
speculation (were the work undertaken by private individuals) a highly
profitable one. This hill completely shuts up the largest of the
paddy-growing valleys; and its removal would admit into it the easterly
and northerly breezes, which might do more than any thing else towards
preventing the descent of the fog. There are other hills, near the one
alluded to, that might be levelled with great advantage to the
neighbourhood, as well as to the parties who might undertake the task.
In this case, there are individuals ready to execute the work on their
own private account, who actually made offers to the Government on the
subject; but their terms were rejected by the Authorities, and the hills
remain in _statu quo_. The sea being very shallow at the base of these
hills, the space filled up by cutting them down, would be very
considerable, and the task by no means difficult. Sir Stamford Raffles
removed one at Singapore, in size equal to the one known in Hong Kong
as Leighton's Hill, without incurring a shilling of expense to his
Government. To the parties who removed the soil, he gave the ground they
had made, charging them the same quit-rent that others paid on the
grants made to them.

At West Point, draining seems to be the only plan that can be
recommended to render the situation more salubrious. Neither there nor
any where else in the Colony, is it safe to reside in houses having only
a ground-floor. Of those who have done so, few have escaped the fever;
and still fewer of those who caught it, recovered. Draining upon a large
scale, is the part of the work I would leave to the Government: upon the
inhabitants, I would impose the task of making proper sewers all over
the town. The few that existed there last summer, were not simply a
disgrace to every person connected with the place, but tended in no
small degree to thin the population by the abominable effluvia they
threw out. In the immediate vicinity