Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/98

( 73 ) than the other settlements on the coast; and the dirty customs of the inhabitants tend to increase the defects of situation. The diseases most prevalent are fevers, dysentery, and hydrocele. Fevers, if not entirely generated, are undoubtedly multiplied by the noxious effluvia arising from the unremoved filth in the streets; for here the windows give a nightly exit to all the vile accumulations of the day. Dysenteries may probably proceed from their method of living or their common kinds of food, of which fish, fruit, and sweetmeats, form the principal articles. The chief animal food