t dangerous to life. The nigua, (sometimes called chigua, and by the
English corrupted into jigger,) is troublesome. With these exceptions,
the claim to freedom from wild or venomous animals may be admitted.
Their snakes are harmless, and the mosquitoes no worse than those of New
England.

As to the climate, I have no doubt that in the interior, especially on
the red earth, it is healthy and delightful, in summer as well as in
winter; but on the river borders, in the low lands of black earth, and
on the savannas, intermittent fever and fever-and-ague prevail. The
cities have the scourge of yellow fever and, of late years, also the
cholera. In the cities, I suppose, the year may be divided, as to
sickness, into three equal portions: four months of winter, when they
are safe; four of summer, when they are unsafe; and four of spring and
autumn, when they are passing from one state to the other. There are,
indeed, a few cases of vomito in the course of the winter, but they are
little regarded, and must be the result of extreme imprudence. It is
estimated that twenty-five per cent of the soldiers die of yellow fever
the first years of their acclimation; and during the year of the
cholera, sixty per cent of the newly-arrived soldiers died. The mean
temperature in winter is 70 degrees, and in summer 83 degrees,
Fahrenheit. The island has suffered severely from hurricanes, although
they are not so frequent as in others of the West India islands. They
have violent thunderstorms in summer, and have suffered from droughts in
winter, though usually the heavy dews keep vegetation green through the
dry season.

That which has been to me, personally, most unexpected, is the industry
of the island. It seems to me that, allowing for the heat of noon and
the debilitating effect of the climate, the industry in agriculture and
trade is rather striking. The sugar crop is enormous. The annual
exportation is about 400,000 tons, or about 2,000,000 boxes, and the
amount consumed on the island is very great, not only in coffee and in
daily cooking, but in the making of preserves and sweetmeats, which are
a considerable part of the food of the people. There is also about half
a million hogsheads of molasses exported annually. Add to this the
coffee, tobacco and copper, and a general notion may be got of the
industry and productions of the island. Its weak point is the want of
variety. There are no manufactures of any consequence; the mineral
ex