The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-07

there is a wide divergence or oplnio
 among laymen San Domingo boasts ( l it's remarkable health statistics, figura lively speaking; literally there are n such figures. Yellow fever was ep
 denic but once in the memory of tn
 oldest inhabitant, and in eighteen year there have been only eleven death
 from that cause. It is true that ther are only a few foreign residents, bu
 they have not been the victims. Th
 deaths have been among the Domini
 cans
 The city has a population of tWent.
 thousand. A river empties into the set
 through it. with it's malaria and its ma
 larial bearing mosquitoes. There ar
 no sewers. The water used for drink
 ing purposes is the pure rain Of heaver that is, it is pure when It falls. Wher
 it does not rain for three or four days
 the cisterns are as full of life tts cir
 GUS aquarium. The water is not usual ly filtered and never boiled. When il does not rain for a month and the cis-
 terms are empty, water is obtained from any source available. The stables
 vaults and hen roosts are close neigh l 'cie " tHS NiSlOiHS' e3'iNN ~'AA ~AS NNsiiiA
 the walls of the home.
 FRUIT THE STAPLE FOOD.
 In the United States fruit is eaten
 with some compunction and caution. In San Domingo the natives live on the
 tropical fruits They eat some meat. Across the street from the hotel is the
 market. The meat is brought the night before and hung up in the open stall 1 without ice or screens or covering. It is cut up early in the morning and hung on hooks in front of the stalls in at- tractive display. The customer comes | along, and, after feeling live chicken or two in the gutter to guess at it's weight, plnches the meat to see if 1t is l tender. He buys part of it, and the | dealer places it on the wood counter, which is never washed, and makes the division ordered. The customer puts his purchase in pannier on his burro, or puts it on his head, or carries it in his hand. The pannier may be years old. It is never cleaned. Perhaps he drops the meat while arranging it. He may look about the street for bit of floating paper and wrap the meat in that. The dealers do not furnish wrap ping paper, and the man does not know where the paper comes from. The bet ter class wash the meat thoroughly in fresh water and soda This is SUD- posed to cure all defects.
 The foreigner cannot stand water and food of this sort without an internal re- be1lion. If he uses ordinary intelligence, and drinks pure water, he is an i'm mune The food when cooked is safe. ther conditions for health and activity are ecellent The temperature is even; there is no such thing as a sunstroke, notwithstanding the tropical heat; there are no flies to carry disease at any time of the year. and there is no such thing as catching cold The air iS nev- CT enervating. the heat never oppres- sive. Night does not differ much from day. There are no hot nights, howev- CT, at any time of the year.
 SOME POPULAR BELIEFS.
 There is q great deal of superstition. Omens and dreams account for much that is told about tropical countries No one bathes here in the river that sweeps down from the mountains. The water is fresh rain water It Is not safe to bothe in the water, people say it will give one the fever. There is no known case of fever from bathing in it, but such is the tradition. And tho cli- matic fever: no one ever had it. but it exists as a bugbear to every adventur- er They talk about it as they talk about the malaria in the western states, but it is by no means so bad. There is said to be wild fruit that makes a n 1r1t and then disappears. Why it should, no one knows. Of course it does not
 Americans who use tho same health precautions as at home are tolerably safe from all tropical diseases, real and and may avoid many clima- tic troubles that cannot be avoided in region occasionally cold. The tempera- turc in San Domingo is remarkably even the year round. The December weather brings showers, mixed with and rainbows. There are no long, depressing rains, and no London fogs, It rains for a few moments al- most daily, and 1t rains hard. There Is no noticeable change in the temperature when 1t rains. and the water quickly l from the surface
 Another fallacy concerns the insects. l Eugene Sue, in his tale of the West In- dies, describes the mammoth serpents l which ate the companion of one of his | heroes. This work was imaginative but l ,atered to a popular idea There are no | snakes here worth speaking of. The | few are small and perfectly harmless. | The centipede is found everywhere, and 1as a disagreeable habit of creeping | into beds and office desks and dark | so that 1t is met with usually | IS disagreeable surprise It's bite is ess painful than that of a mosquito Ind less poisonous. The traantulas and he spiders of the West Indies are not poisonous either, and, in fact there are 10 poisonous insects. There are said to 'e some poisonous plants, but no one las ever seen one of them as far as the writer has discovered At least a days ramp through the bushes fails to dis lose anything more injurious than the sword cactus, with its propensity to conceal the narrow trail and to cause an scratch on those who try to ass 1t by.
 A NOTABLE ROAD.
 There are few roads in San Domingo, nd the few arc hardly worthy the anne. Every one travels horseback, nd the trail is just wide enough for ne diminutive burro. When fellow traveller going in the opposite direction thnrn ic fhn mo nh1J rtScE |