alternate, but less likely explanation for the mortality rate, is that another form of malaria, P. falciparum, a virulent form of tropical malaria, was also present. But since it couldn't survive the Canadian winter, it would have had to have been imported into the worksites each year, an unlikely proposition. T he first big attack of malaria came in the summer of 1828 and after that the period from August to mid-September would be known as the "sickly season". The construction of the canal put hundreds of people in close proximity to each other, aiding in the transmission of the disease. It was not known at that time that mosquitoes transmitted the disease, it was though to be the result of bad air (from which the name "malaria" is derived). Colonel By had large sections of trees cut down at each work station to improve air flow, in order to (he thought) lessen the chances of malaria. E xtrapolations from the factual records which have survived, indicate that perhaps about 500 men died of malaria. For instance, in 1830, in the area from Newboro to Kingston Mills, out of a total of 1,316 men, 787 got sick and 27 died. At the same time, 13 women and 15 children were also recorded as having died. A rough guess is that perhaps upwards of another 500 died from other diseases (dysentery, small pox, tuberculosis) and accidents (blasting accidents, rock falls, drownings, etc.). So today, the round number of 1,000 is generally