Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/263

( 238 ) In wet weather it, is impossible to let a sufficient quantity of air into the apartment after fumigation, without, at the same time, admitting a proportionate quantity of moisture, hence the people often return to it before the vapour is evaporated, and inhale a considerable quantity, which must affect the lungs. In all weathers, fires of sea-coal (for charcoal is liable to the same objections as fumigations with gun-powder) will be found infinitely more effectual in clearing the prisons of foul air, than any kind of fumigation. As to fumigation by acids, it is usually performed on so small a scale, that I cannot conceive it productive of any advantages, if any such are inherent in it.

In passing through the warm latitudes, I would strongly recommend, that the convicts be obliged to bathe, at least, twice a week. This might be so regulated as to give but little trouble, a certain proportion bathing every day, and if formed