Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/268

252 Neither the natives of Veracruz, nor the black population, are subject to the Vomito. By natives, I do not mean the inhabitants of the whole Province, (for those on the Slope of the Cordillera dread a journey to the Coast as much as those who descend at once from the Table-land,) but individuals born in the town of Veracruz, or in the Tierra Caliente immediately around it. These seem to enjoy a special exemption from the dangers of the climate, and, strange as it may appear, they do not lose it even if they are removed at an early age from their native shore, and pass several successive years in countries, the natives of which cannot sustain the heat of the Tropics without imminent danger. I am myself acquainted with one young man, of a most respectable Veracruz family, who, after having been sent to receive his education at Paris, Hamburg, and Madrid, returned to Veracruz at the very worst period of the sickly season of 1821, (which was remarkably violent,) after an absence of ten years, and remained there, without the slightest apprehension of danger, for nearly six weeks.

Whether the rule is a general one, or whether his was an exception, due, perhaps, to the very freedom from anxiety, which the conviction of his own safety produced, is a question well worthy of.