From MOA-CU:
| Title: | The North American review. / Volume 27, Issue 61 |
| Publisher: | University of Northern Iowa | Publication Date: | October 1828 |
| City: | Cedar Falls, Iowa, etc. | Pages: | 592 page images in vol. |
430 Travels in .~merica. [Oct.
that then there are eddies setting up the river, for miles occasion-
ally, and also that there is many a �cut-oW� which at this time
admits the largest boats, but which, when the river is low, is
impassable. All this tends to render us doubtful, what i~ the
actual distance our steam-boats accomplish through the water in
a given time. We think the passages between New York and
Albany solve this problem, much more satisfactorily than those
in any other part of our country. Till the last season, the
boats on the Western waters excelled them. We presume
they are now on a par. From New York to Albany by land
it is, we think, one hundred and fifty-three miles, varying but
little from the distance by the river; call the latter one hun-
dred and fifty miles. This passage was made repeatedly in
the summer of 1827, within twelve hours, both up and down; and
once we believe in eleven hours arid a half, including the delay
incident to landing passengers. This will give a speed of
thirteen miles per hour, without allowing anything for loss of
time. We have seen no reason to believe that any steam-
boat has fairly gone through the water at a rate beyond this.
The average hourly run, in the shortest passages between New
York and Liverpool, will vary from eight to nine miles, as the
distance is computed from three thousand to thirty-five hund-
red miles. The most experienced captains have informed us,
that they have never been able �to get out of the best ship�
more than twelve or twelve and a half knots an hour.
But we must return to our traveller, whom we left at Natchez.
He pays a merited tribute to the intelligent, liberal-minded,
and warm-hearted inhabitants of this city and the country adja-
cent. We refer to this place now, in order to speak of its
pest, and the pest of the southern cities too generally, the yellow
fever. The results of our observations upon the health of the
Valley of the Mississippi are few, and mostly confined to its
immediate vicinity. We are struck with one fact, rather con-
trary to expectation, that all the inhabitants whom we question-
ed, from the mouth of the Ohio downward, were agreed in
this, that the most healthy spots were on the margin of the
river, and the most unhealthy, the knolls and elevated hills,
whether back or near the river. We shall not attempt to inves-
tigate the quo modo, but from repeated inquiries, we think the
fact is as stated. We are not aware whether this favors or
opposes any medical theory; and we do not suspect the set-
tlers in Arkansas were much better informed than ourselves.
1828.] Travels in .dmerica. 431
Our witnesses generally agreed that the country is healthy,
subject to few diseases, and those mostly of the bilious kind, slight
in degree and of short continuance. We were fully persuaded
that the general belief as to their unhealthiness is incorrect.
The facts which we could discover, in regard to the prevalence
of the yelloxv fever at Natchez were, that, in those seasons
when it made its most destructive ravages, there had been a
great quantity of rich vegetable loam uncovered and exposed
to the sun. This was occasioned by levelling the unevenness
of the broken ground on which that city is built. In 1826, in
addition to this cause, another was found in a large cellar full
of putrid hams, near which, either in the same house or that
adjoining, the fever first made its appearance, and from which
it spread with alarming and destructive rapidity. So far as
we could discover, there was nothing peculiar in the winds this
season, as blowing more or less from the low and marshy parish
of Concordia, than usual. The ordinary health of the country
only a few miles distant, would seem to show, that the disease
had its origin in some local and limited cause. In New Or-
leans the case stands thus. The most intelligent physicians,
who have been longest in practice and most acquainted with
the disease, acknowledge that they know nothing about its ori-
gin, nor the cause or combination of causes that produces it.
As to the degree of heat experienced, or the state of the river,
as high or low, or the quantity of rain that falls, these have at
different seasons been so combined with contradictory results,
as to satisfy intelligent observers, that, whatever may be this
cause, it is not to be found here, though these may, in some
circumstances, combine with other causes to produce this re-
sult. The only fact, on which we could find anything like a
general agreement among intelligent observers, was this, that
in those seasons when the fever was most destructive, the
prevalent winds had been from the north; and that southern
winds prevailing through the summer months and September, had
never been attended with the yellow fever. Whether the facts
are quite so broad as thus stated, we are not altogether certain,
though we incline to that belief. The reader should recollect
that southern winds at New Orleans blow from the Gulf of
Mexico, and, it would not be strange, if they should carry
health on their wings; and that northern winds come over
marshes, swamps, and lagoons, charged, as he may readily
believe, with miasmata, pestilence, and death.
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