South Africa as a health resort / by E. Symes Thompson.

  • Symes-Thompson, Edmund, 1837-1906.
Date:
[1888]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: South Africa as a health resort / by E. Symes Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    health resort, but at present it is unsuited for health seekers, and must be left to those who are searching for wealth. The proverbial unhealthiness of Delagoa Bay, and the whole seaboard north of Durban, Port Natal*, is dependent on the rank gi^ass and humidity of the air and soil. Ten years ago Barberton had the reputation of being at least as fatal to the settlers as Delagoa Bay. Now, thanks to the march of civilisa- tion, to the cutting down of trees, and specially to the burning of rank grass, it has become healthy. Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal (elevation 4,000 ft.), is said to be an exceedingly attractive place. It is well sheltered, and in summer decidedly hotter than Johannesburg; but scarcely hotter than the hot days of our Enghsh summer, and decidedly less hot than Paris. In the summer months the hills, which rise to a height of 8,000 feet, are covered with mist, and the whole region is healthy. In Bechuanaland the elevation varies from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. More rain falls than in Cape Colony. Wheat, barley, oats, &c., grow readily in the beautiful valleys, but it is found that irrigation is apt to breed fevers ; the gardens are therefore kept at a distance from the houses. Above the level of 4,000 feet the immunity level is reached, and the risk of fever and phthisis is greatly diminished. Should the proposed Bechuanaland Eailway be pushed forward, it will open up a country having a fine chmate and great possibilities of expansion. Experience now being gained in Tropical Africa confirms that acquired in India in regard to the immunity level. In the Neilgherries the immunity level from fever is 4,500 ft. In the latitude of Bechuanaland it must be at a level considerably below this, say 4,000 ft. The fever is not limited to the oozy, jungly, saline marshes north of Delagoa Bay, but is found too in dry arid tracts where the rainfall is slight, where there are no swamps or signs of super- ficial moisture; there may, however, be areas of damp subsoil without drainage in which solar heat leads to the development of malarial poison ; the tm-ning up of such ground produces an outbreak of fever, but when the drainage and cultivation are com- pleted the unhealthiness is removed. Anyone settling in the sub-tropical or tropical regions of Africa should master and act upon the rules found needful in other * For the words north of Durban, Port Natal, read from thence to St. Lucia Bay. (Note by Author.)