Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/55
FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY
months of ague or malignant fever before becoming acclimatised, and natives and foreigners alike suffer severely from a skin disease which rapidly produces blood poisoning. Passing south to Canton, which ought to have a tropical climate, it is found that the temperature in the hottest months ranges from 80° F. to 88°, against 80° to 93° in Shanghai, and the temperature in the coldest months stands at from 50° to 6o° against Shanghai's 45° to 60°. Long experience shows that Canton is remarkably healthy. In spite of dense fogs in February and March malaria is almost unknown, and from October to January the climate is found very agreeable by Occidental visitors, the sky being clear and the air invigorating. Macao and Hongkong, lying respectively at the southern and northern entrances of the estuary up which vessels sail for Canton, used to be spoken of as places which, while within a short distance of each other, differed to a marked degree in climate, Macao being particularly healthy and Hongkong notably unhealthy. But the insalubrious character of Hongkong was partly due to causes independent of climate, and these having been remedied by planting, draining, and providing an ample supply of pure water, the colony is now a pleasant place of sojourn for Occidentals.
According to the Chinese view, Yunnan, Kwangsi, and Kwangtung are the most unhealthy provinces in the whole eighteen, and are conse-
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