Remarks on the topography and diseases of the Gold Coast / by R. Clarke.

  • Clarke, R.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the topography and diseases of the Gold Coast / by R. Clarke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    does not arise from the land, in the interior being more ele- vated than on the sea-coast, but it appears to depend upon the large tracts of land covered with lofty trees attracting and ar- resting the clouds surcharged with moisture; for in the vicinity of the sea-coast towns, the large trees having been cut down, there is merely copsewood, densely matted by climbing plants,' —a circumstance which undoubtedly has greatly contributed to make these towns much more unhealthy than they would otherwise be had the forest trees in their neighbourhood been judiciously thinned, and not indiscriminately cleared away; for trees, it is well known, exercise a most salutary influence on the health of the inhabitants of malarious countries by screen- ing off, and greatly modifying, that most subtle poison. The felling of the trees has likewise had the bad effect of greatly increasing the price of firewood in the coast towns, which in- directly injures the health of the poorer classes by preventing them from easily obtaining supplies of fuel for warmth and cooking purposes. The seasons are well defined; the wet weather rarely en- croaches on the boundaries of the dry, and the average varia- tion of the temperature is 68° and 87° Fahrenheit between the coldest time of the night and the hottest time of the day. The Harmattan winds, so far from being injurious to life, are, in my opinion, very salubrious, and are much enjoyed by many Europeans who have lived long on the coast, as they find these winds very bracing; but persons recently arrived, on the con- trary, generally find that they cause a dryness of the skin, and corresponding temporary functional disturbance of the liver. I observed that its effects were most beneficially felt3y persons who had previously been suffering from dysentery, remittent or intermittent fevers, and that they then more quickly re- covered. The heat of the climate on the Gold Coast is sen- sibly moderated by the>sea-breezes, which blow at all seasons ; and the heat is less oppressive and less felt than at Sierra Leone, where it is checked by the land-locked, mountainous amphitheatres which border its shores and rivers ; but the filth of the coast towns, the badness of the water, sameness of food, and proximity of the forts to the sea, are evident causes of its apparent unhealthiness. The interior of many parts of the country, especially about Crobo, Pram Pram, the Abra country, and elsewhere, asee far more healthy than the seaboard, and more conducive to European life. Fortunately, annoyance from that pest of other tropical regions, mosquitoes, is little experi- enced—a matter of no small consequence to the European residents on the Gold Coast.