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barley bread, and cider. The inhabitants, however,
are notwithstanding a hardy, though not apparently,
a robust race; and generally attain a good old age.
Among the children of the lower classes in town,
marasmus is common; and although healthy during
infancy, they become puny in childhood. On the
whole, Guernsey must be considered a healthy island,
exempt from endemics, and rarely affected with
epidemic diseases; and when they shew themselves,
their type is generally mild. Scarlet fever, measles,
hooping cough, &c., are more tractable, and certainly
less fatal than in England. Malignant diseases of
a specific character, and acute inflammatory affections,
are comparatively rare. During spring, sub-acute
bronchitis, and in the autumnal season, bowel complaints,
are frequent; the latter, doubtless partly
owing to the quantity of fruit grown in the island,
and imported from France. The more aggravated
forms of fever are seldom seen, the prevailing type
being the simple continued, or remittent, accompanied
by sub-acute inflammation of the mucous membranes;
which tissue is much more liable to derangement than
the serous. Intermittent fever, as an endemic, has
been unknown for a number of years, though formerly
jirevalent in certain districts. It is a singular fact that
its disappearance is co-evalwith the recovery of a considerable
tract of land by the exclusion of an arm of
the sea, in the lower parishes, where the occasional
appearance of the remittent fever before alluded to,
has superseded ag u e :—tliese fevers, however, only
occur when great heat has succeeded a long continuance
of rain.”
During the autumn of 1832, the cholera suddenly
burst out in certain parts of the town, raged violently
for three days, and at the end of the week, disappeared
entirely, having carried off about ninety-nine individuals
from a dense population of about 14,000 !
CH A PT ER H I.
General Description of the Interior—Aspect and Scenery—Bays—
Druidical Remains—The Country People and their Character,
and Mode of Life—Small Proprietors and Cottagers—Singular
Usage — Dress, and Personal Appearance — Dialect— Laws
affecting Property.
W h e n speaking of Jersey, I said, that “ the general
aspect of the island is wooded fertility, and the general
character of its scenery, softness and beauty.”
This observation is inapplicable to Guernsey, which is
neither so well wooded nor productive, as Jersey;
nor, in the general attractions of its natural scenery,
can at all be compared with it. Taste and money,
have produced greater results here than in Je rsey ;
and this is true, not only in reference to the immediate
environs of St. Peter’s Port, but of the island
generally. Houses of a very superior description, are
met with, in every excursion through the island; and
these are very generally surrounded by pleasure
grounds of some considerable extent; well laid out;
and in the very best order. But the lover of natural
scenery, will be less gratified in Guernsey than in
Jersey; he will miss the extensive orchards; the
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