Report on the climate and principle diseases of the African station; compiled from the documents in the office of the Director-General of the Medical Department, and from other sources: in compliance with the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty / Under the immediate direction of Sir William Burnett. By Alexander Bryson.

  • Bryson, Alexander, 1802-1869.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the climate and principle diseases of the African station; compiled from the documents in the office of the Director-General of the Medical Department, and from other sources: in compliance with the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty / Under the immediate direction of Sir William Burnett. By Alexander Bryson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sunrise. It cannot, therefore, be a matter of wonder that men arriving in these rivers from the clear atmosphere of the open sea, worn out and drenched in perspiration with long and heavy pulling, hungry, thirsty, and at last cold, should fall an easy prey to the demon of the place, the indigenous pestilence of the swamp. Although at times some may have escaped, it has too often been but the exception to the rule, particularly if to this catalogue of evils rain has been added, and this, during at least five months of the year, will too frequently be the case. The country between the Nunez and Pongos, and south- ward, to the Melacoorie and Searcies, is intersected by nume- rous brackish lagoons and winding intricate creeks, which extend from river to river^ but are only navigable by small craft, or by native canoes. Along the sea-board, as well as probably for several hundred miles inland, upon the more solid and elevated parts of this vast delta, it is covered by a dense forest, and in the lower by mangrove jungles, the latter abounding everywhere in noisome swamps, which poison the atmosphere in their neighbourhood for at least two-thirds of the year. Sierra Leone being by far the most important of our settle- ments on the western shores of Africa, has long been one of the principal resorts for the squadron, particularly for that part of it employed upon the northern limits of the command, for vessels arriving from England, or for vessels coming from the south to take their turn of servitude upon this less de- sirable part of the station. Spanish and Brazilian vessels captured by the squadron are also sent to Sierra Leone for adjudication in the Court of Mixed Commission, each with a prize crew on board consisting of from ten to twenty white men and a few blacks; it therefore necessarily exerts a con- siderable influence on the general health of the squadron, although this must in a great measure depend upon the nature and extent of the intercourse with the shore. Whether this colony is more detrimental to the European