Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/232

212 known as the black-vomit was the most deadly. This scourge was supposed to have been introduced by an English slave-ship in the year 1699, but was more probably an endemic disease due to the causes already mentioned, and to the malaria generated by decaying animal and vegetable matter. At the close of the last and the beginning of the present century so great was the havoc wrought by this malady that it was proposed to abandon the site of Vera Cruz and remove to Jalapa.

The port of Vera Cruz was neither safe nor commodious, being but a roadstead, sheltered on the east side by a few small and widely separated reefs and islands. On the north it was entirely exposed, and from September to March was swept by violent north winds, which made the anchorage unsafe. The island of San Juan de Ulúa is less than a mile distant from the city, only its south-west point on which the fort was built being above high-water mark. On the leeward side of this island, facing the city, vessels made fast by cable ropes to huge bolts and rings let into the walls of the fort. Here the depth of water was six or eight fathoms, and from this point passengers and freight were transferred to the mainland in boats. Opposite the city, and at about the same distance, was a small reef called Lavandera, near which was also an anchoring ground for merchant craft. Five or six miles to the south-east are the islands of Verde and Sacrificios, where were the quarantine ground and the station for ships of war. The harbor was entered by two channels, the best one being on the north side, between Ulúa and the mainland, with a depth of four to five fathoms and a width of four hundred varas. The other channel lay between the island of