21
At the time of my visit in- April, mosquitoes were exceedingly prevalent,
cellia albimana and stegomyia fasciata being particularly abundant,
The
hotel at which I stayed was partially screened, but on the first day I caught¡ten
specimens of stegomyia fasciata in my bedroom and many specimens every day
afterwards. I also caught adults of this species in the offices of the British and
American Consulates and in shops and houses of private citizens. They were
also present in the wards of the yellow fever lazaretto although it is situated on
the outskirts of the town and is well screened.
Through the kindness of Señor Dr. Cornejo Gomez, Director of the Sani-
tary Service at Guayaquil, 1 had an opportunity, in company with Señor Dr. Mino,
Señor Dr. Pareja and others, of studying the sanitary organisation at work in the
city and the measures that are being taken in the attempt to eradicate plague
and yellow fever. These measures are fully described in the official publication
which accompanies this report and it is not necessary for me to recapitulate them
here. What is being done is doubtless as much as can be accomplished with
the money and means available, but the conditions of the city are exceedingly
favourable to the breeding of mosquitoes and to the spread of yellow fever, and it
appeared to me that in the absence of complete arrangements for water-supply,
sewerage, paving and draining, any efforts towards the eradication of mosquitoes
would be futile. Negotiations for a loan of fifty million francs for those very
necessary purposes have been under consideration for some years, but revolu-
tionary troubles and changes of government have delayed their completion and
at the time of my visit there appeared little prospect that a radical advancement
in sanitation would occur in the near future.
The arrangements by which an attempt is made to prevent the spread of
yellow fever to the Canal zone by ships visiting the port have already been
described, but those arrangements do not apply to ships trading with the ports
of other countries than the United States, and such ships usually lie in the river
opposite the wharves and frequently become infected.
Honolulu.—The protection of the east from yellow fever is dependent in
great measure upon the protection of the ports of call in various islands which
lie on the route of ships crossing the Pacific Ocean from the endemic area. An
examination of the map which accompanies this Section will show that among
such ports Honolulu in the Hawaiian islands is chiefly to be considered. It is
situated at latitude 21° 30 north of the Equator on the island of Oahu—the
second largest of the eight inhabited islands in the Hawaiian group—and, as
a result of the development of the natural resources oí the islands and because
it is used as a port of call by trans-Pacific ships, is rapidly becoming a place of
considerable commercial importance. About nine-tenths of the whole trade is
with the United States, and practically all the exports (which are chiefly sugar
and coffee) go to that country.
Local conditions in Honolulu are all the year round favourable to the
existence and spread of yellow fever. The climate is remarkably equable,
being represented as regards temperature by maxima and minima in the
hottest and coolest months respectively of 85° and 65° in August and
80° and 55° in February, and as regards rain by a total fall of about 20
inches which is distributed over every month of the year, but is greatest from
November to April. Secondly, the population of about 52,000 is entirely non
immune to yellow fever and is composed largely of Japanese, pure and par
Hawaiian, Portuguese, Chinese, Spaniards, Porto Ricans, Koreans and Filipinos,
many of whom live in low and insanitary buildings or overcrowded tenement:
houses in areas where the sanitary conditions leave much to be desired, and
where, as a rule, the owners carry out improvements only when forced to do so.
Thirdly, although the town has modern arrangements of water-supply, sewage
disposal, drainage and paving of the streets, conditions, both natural and arti-
ficial, are favourable to the breeding of mosquitoes. It will be seen from the
following plan of the city that it extends for a considerable distance parallel to
the-sea, but is very narrow and the various sections are separated from one
another by tortuous streams, large areas of unreclaimed swamp, and flat land,
on which there are many ponds, irrigated rice fíelas and taro patches. Most of
these are actual, and all of them are potential, breeding grounds of mosquitoes,
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