Mr. Russell evidently considers that it is to this swampy condition, and to stagnant water left by floods, that the supposed insalubrity of this region is to be chiefly attributed. How would he explain, then, the undoubted salubrity of the bottom lands in Louisiana, which are lower than those of the Mississippi, exposed to a more southern sun, more swampy, and which were originally much more frequently flooded, but having been dyked and "leveed," are now inhabited by a white population of several hundred thousand. I will refer to the evidence of an expert:—
"Heat, moisture, animal and vegetable matter, are said to be the elements
which produce the diseases of the South, and yet the testimony in
proof of the health of the banks of the lower portion of the Mississippi
river is too strong to be doubted. Here is a perfectly flat alluvial country,
covering several hundred miles, interspersed with interminable lakes,
lagunes, and jungles, and still we are informed by Dr. Cartwright, one of
the most acute observers of the day, that this country is exempt from miasmatic
disorders, and is extremely healthy. His assertion has been confirmed
to me by hundreds of witnesses; and we know, from our own observation,
that the population presents a robust and healthy appearance."
(Statistics are given to prove a greater average length of life for the white
race in the South than in the North.)—Essay on the Value of Life in
the South, by Dr. J. C. Nott, of Alabama.
To the same effect is the testimony of a far more trustworthy
scientific observer, Darby, the surveyor and geographer
of Louisiana:—
"Between the 9th of July, 1805, to the 7th of May, 1815, incredible as
it may appear to many persons, I actually travelled [in Southern Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and, what is now, Texas] twenty thousand miles,
mostly on foot. During the whole of this period, I was not confined one
month, put all my indispositions together, and not one moment by any
malady attributable to climate. I have slept in the open air for weeks
together, in the hottest summer nights, and endured this mode of life in
the most matted woods, perhaps, in the world. During my survey of the
Sabine river, myself, and the men that attended me, existed, for several
weeks, on flesh and fish, without bread or salt, and without sickness of
any kind. That nine-tenths of the distempers of warm climate may be
guarded against, I do not harbour a single doubt.
