| Average 1844-1848. | Mean 1849. | |
|---|---|---|
| ° | ° | |
| January, | 53 | 39 |
| February, | 47 | 36 |
| March, | 38 | 27 |
| April, | 27 | 20 |
| May, | 21 | 16 |
| June, | 18 | 13 |
| July, | 19 | 14 |
| August, | 21 | 21 |
| September, | 24 | 24 |
In 1849, the deaths exceed the calculated average number by 79, and the births exceed the deaths by 74.
In the seven years ending with 1845, the mean annual number of deaths in the town and suburb, with an assumed population of 17,867, is 410, being 22·9 per thousand, or one death in every 43·5 persons. In 1846, 1847, and 1848 (assumed average population 18,329), the mean annual number is 694, being 37·8 deaths per thousand, or 1 in every 26·4 persons in those three most unhealthy years. In 1849 the deaths are 606, which, assuming the population to be the same as in 1848, give 32·2 deaths per 1000, or 1 death in every 31 persons. The average annual number of deaths in the ten years 1839-48 is 495, which, with an assumed population of 17,713, gives 27·9 per 1000, or 1 death in every 35·7 inhabitants.
So that the mortality in 1849, although still above the average, shews a marked improvement in the health of the town as compared with any of the three preceding years; and, in the last quarter, the deaths are below the average for the period.
The Observatory, Whitehaven,
13th March 1850.
[29] The cause of this fearful epidemic is still a mystery. The meteorological conditions of the atmosphere, although slightly abnormal, are wholly inadequate to account for its induction. It is most probably induced by some gaseous poison diffused through the atmosphere, but of a nature so subtle that the most delicate analysis fails to detect its presence. According to the experiments of Dr Dundas Thompson of Glasgow, no solid matter existed in the air, but ammonia was obtained from it in the proportion of 0·319 grain of caustic ammonia, or 0·731 grain of carbonate of ammonia, to 1000 pounds of air.
The Completed Coral Island.
By James D. Dana,
Geologist to the American Exploratory Expedition, &c., &c.
The Coral Island, in its best condition, is but a miserable residence for man. There is poetry in every feature; but the natives find this a poor substitute for the bread-fruit and yams of more favoured lands. The cocoa-nut and pandanus are, in general, the only products of the vegetable kingdom afforded for their sustenance, and fish and crabs from the reef their only animal food. Scanty, too, is the supply; and infanticide is resorted to in self-defence, where but a few years would otherwise overstock the half-dozen square miles of which their little world consists.
Yet there are more comforts than might be expected on a land of so limited extent, without rivers, without hills, in the midst of salt water, with the most elevated point but ten feet above high tide, and no part more than 300 yards from the ocean. Though the soil is light and the surface often strewed with blocks of coral, there is a dense covering of vegetation to shade the native villages from a tropical sun. The cocoa-nut—the tree of a thousand uses—grows luxuriantly on the coral-made land, after it has emerged from the ocean; and the scanty dresses of the natives, their drinking-vessels and other utensils, mats, cordage, fishing-lines, and oil, besides food, drink, and building material, are all supplied from it. The Pandanus, or screw-pine, flourishes well, and is exactly fitted for such regions: as it enlarges and spreads its branches, one prop after another grows out from the trunk and plants itself in the ground; and by this means its base is widened and the growing tree supported. The fruit, a large ovoidal mass, made up of oblong dry seed, diverging from a centre, each near two cubic inches in size, affords a sweetish-husky article of food, which, though little better than prepared corn-stalks, admits of being stored away for use when other things fail. The extensive reefs abound in fish which are easily captured; and the natives, with wooden hooks, often bring in larger kinds from the deep waters. From such resources a population of 10,000 persons is supported on the single Island of Taputeouea, whose whole habitable area does not exceed six square miles.[30]