Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/217

Rh with marshes,—which bound the Gulf of Mexico. Its unhealthiness is proverbial. From the month of May to that of November,—comprising the usual period during which the northers cease blowing,—the vomito prieto, or black vomit, prevails incessantly at Vera Cruz. None but natives of the town, or acclimated foreigners, are free from its attacks, and the frightful inroads it made among our troops, in the year 1847, will long be remembered in the history of our army and country. Time does not appear to have had any effect on this dreadful disease. Increase of population and sanatory precautions do not seem to abate its malignity; and the science of the ablest physicians is entirely at fault in dealing with it. Diarrhœa, dysentery and vomito are the most fatal and prevalent maladies at Vera Cruz; and, the latter disease, is reckoned to cause one-sixth of the whole mortality of the port.