... ,. ^ \ f**rr" - - Cr- tt - l:H- * A < ^-^H^r tf^in*^, I \ -- [ | =ps |v . ^ ; MJ'i A WINTER WEST INDIES AND FLORIDA; GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON MODES OF TRAVELLING, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, CLIMATES AND PRODUCTIONS, WITH A PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION OF ST. CROIX, TRINIDAD DE CUBA, HAVANA, KEY WEST, AND ST. AUGUSTINE, AS PLACES OF RESORT FOR NORTHERN INVALIDS, BY AN INVALID. NEW-YORK : PUBLISHED BY WILEY AND PUTNAM. 161 Broadway. 1839. Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by WILEY & PUTNAM, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York. J. P. Wright, Printer, 18 New Street, N. Y. 1610 OS Si INDEX. PACK PREFACE. ........ v CHAPTER I. Of Climate in general. . . .13 II. Author's Own Case 25 III. The Voyage 29 IV. Bassin, or Christianstadt, St. Croix. . 35 V. West End, or Frederickstadt. . . 49 VI. Santa Cruz in general. . . .62 VII. Voyage to Trinidad de Cuba. . . 72 VIII. Trinidad de Cuba 75 IX. Voyage to Batabanno and Havana. . 106 X. Havana 110 XI. Key West 115 XII. Voyage to St. Augustine. . . . 137 XIII. St. Augustine 142 XIV. Return Home 159 XV. General Observations upon the West Indies and Florida. . . . .168 XVI. Preparations for going South. . . 190 PREFACE. THE great and constantly increasing number of pulmonary complaints in the United States, is happily beginning to excite the attention which the importance of the subject demands. The bills of mortality abundantly prove, that about one-fourth of the deaths in these States is caused by diseases of the lungs, in one shape or other, and the fairest and the best of the youth of our land are every day cut down around us, in the full flush of youthful hopes and ardent antici- pations ; discouraged by the almost equally unsuccessful application of patent quack-nos- trums and scientific medical skill, the friends and relatives of these unfortunate victims of premature decline, have generally abandoned ull hope of relief from the earliest appearance of this terrible disease ; and, in many cases, they have been left to pine away by its slow and sure operation, with the consoling reflection that they were past all hope, and had nothing to VI PREFACE. do but wait patiently for death to end their mis- eries. For a time, it was supposed that much might be hoped from a winter residence in the southern States ; and many a poor patient has been sent to Charleston or Savannah, St. Au- gustine or Pensacola, Mobile or New-Orleans, or some other equally unfit and improper place, to add to his other afflictions, that of dying in a strange land, without the consolation of his friends to stand around him in his last moments, or shed a tear over his untimely grave. So lit- tle benefit was found to result from a visit to the southern States, that many came to the conclu- tion that no change of climate could be of any avail, and refused to separate themselves from their friends in their days of desolation and de- spair : choosing, rather, to meet their unhappy fate at home, than to try so forlorn a hope as that afforded by going south. The enterprise of our people had found out every nook and corner of every State in the Union where money could be made, and well ascertained the nature of the trade and commerce of every place ; but, upon the nice and important question of the fit. ness of a climate for invalids, very little know, ledge was obtained, partly because the attention of the healthy was never turned to the subject, but more because no healthy man can be a com' PREFACE. VU petent judge of such matters ; and invalids were unable to make the proper investigations, or to publish them when made. It is only within the last few years, that the idea has become preva- lent, even among physicians, that the southern States of this Union are the most unfit place on earth for invalids, and that the whole winter season there, is not unlike November and April in the north, which every-body knows, or ought to know, are the worst months in the year. So great is the ignorance upon this subject, that it is believed more than five hundred from the northern and middle States are sent on a useless pilgrimage annually : the same patient scarcely ever going more than once,, having learned by experience that it was merely changing from bad to worse. Within a few years past, many eminent physicians have been urging their patients to go to the West Indies, and many have pursued the advice with decided advantage ; but the unwillingness of Americans to leave their own country, connected with their ignorance of the West India climate, have deterred thousands from going there who would otherwise have gone, with the certainty of bene- fit, if not of perfect restoration to health. The author of this little volume, after iiaving suffered the effects of northern winters for seve- V1I1 PREFACE. ral years, and having tried the southern States with no advantage, was induced, by the strong recommendation of his physician, and the in- creased severity of his disease, in the early part of the winter of 1838-39, to visit the island of St. Croix, which was supposed to be the best of the West Indies for climate, partly, perhaps, for want of sufficient acquaintance with other places. After spending several weeks at St. Croix, and being greatly improved in health, for the purpose of being able to judge for himself between different places of resort, he visited Trinidad de Cuba ; passed from thence, through the island of Cuba, to Havana ; from thence to Key West, the only tolerable place in the United States ; and from thence to St. Augus- tine ; stopping long enough at each place to form an accurate conclusion, and, in the mean time, collecting all the information he could as to other places. The information thus obtained is so useful to himself, that he deems it his duty to publish it for the benefit of the community ; and, to insure the attention which the import- ance of the subject demands, it has been thought better to make a small volume by itself, than to put it in any public journal, which would be merely read, thrown aside, and forgotten. In order to enable the reader to judge for himself, PREFACE. IX it has been thought proper to give him an ac* count of the author's own case, and some others that fell under his immediate observation ; a detailed description of the situation, climate, and other material circumstances of St. Croix; the same as to Trinidad de Cuba, Havana, Key West, and St. Augustine ; with observations upon other places, and the reasons of the healthiness or unhealthiness of each particular place. The invalid, knowing his own symp- toms, will then be able to decide at once which is the best place for himself, and act accord- ingly. By possessing the information herein contained, before leaving home, the author could have saved himself at least three hundred dol- lars in expenses, besides adding greatly to his comforts, during a single winter. He cannot doubt, therefore, that the work will prove ac- ceptable to the public, particularly to that un- fortunate class for \\hose benefit it is princi- pally intended. They will get hero the dispas- sionate judgment of one M r ho had no interest to lead him to prefer one place to another, and who has been willing to give as well the unfa- vourable as the favourable circumstances of each particular place. The following chapters contain a very concise statement of the results of my observation, and X PREFACE. information, during my tour ; and, so far as regards the principal question that concerns in- valids, desiring to visit the West Indies, or either of the other places therein mentioned, to wit, the salubrity of different climates, and accom- modations for invalids, may be relied upon, as in all respects correct. As regards the matters of general information, and interest, not having the time nor feeling the disposition to acquire very precise intelligence, and without pretend, ing to look into books for aid, I have merely in- terspersed the work with such matters as fur- nished the principal topics of conversation, at the places through which I passed, and, there- fore, am unable to vouch for their accuracy in every particular ; but, believing that they would relieve the reader from the monotonous tone of mere descriptions of climates, &c. &c., I have given them according to my best information; and I have generally distinguished between mat- ters within my own knowledge, and those de- rived from others. I might have gone into detail, and made a larger volume ; but, as my object is not to make others read, but to convey useful intelligence, conciseness has been my principal aim ; and, it is humbly hoped, that the reader will not deem the brevity of the work a demerit. I might, by bestowing a little more PREFACE. XI attention upon the subject, have swelled the work, by giving a more scientific and historical account of the places before-mentioned, but am very far from aspiring to the reputation of an erudite author, or from claiming any literary merit for this production. Knowing that thou- sands were in want of the information herein contained, and that, from peculiar sensitiveness, and attentive observation, I have been enabled to judge of all the places in question with great accuracy, and to present at one view more use- ful knowledge upon the subject, than has ever before been published, I have been induced to write, and offer to the public, this little volume, hoping that it may be instrumental in restoring to health, those who are unfortunately afflicted with complaints similar to my own ; may, in some degree, aid physicians, in advising their patients what place to prefer for their particu- lar complaints ; and, on the whole, may prove interesting and acceptable to the general read- er. If these expectations are realized, I shall be amply satisfied ; if not, it will not be the first well intended effort that has failed of accom- plishing its object. A WINTER WEST INDIES AND FLORIDA. CHAPTER I. Of Climate in General. NOTHING is more talked of or less under- stood than the healthiness of climates. When- ever it becomes difficult to remove disease, and the friends of the patient become alarmed, or the physician gets sick of experiments, a change of climate is resorted to, as a kind of patent panacea for all maladies ; by means whereof the patient, if not helped in any other way, is at least helped out of the way of his friends and physician. In cities they are sent to the country; in the country, to the city; inland, they are sent to the sea-shore ; on the coast, to the interior ; from the mountains to the plains, and from the plains to the moun- 2 14 A WINTER IN THE tains ; from warm weather to cold, and from cold to warm ; from dry to moist, and from moist to dry: in short, any thing for a change, from good to better, or from bad to worse. There is nothing more difficult to define, ac- cording to the common use of the term, than a good climate. It means a place where the well are robust and hardy, or where few vio- lent diseases are known, or where the yellow fever does not rage, or where not more than half the people have the fever and ague : in fine, almost any place that has any resources, and where lands or lots will sell in market. For however people may express themselves as to the salubrity of places in their vicinity, they never acknowledge their own place to be unhealthy as long as any body has life enough left to deny it. Let any one deny this who has travelled through our western country if he can. Let him refresh his recol- lection as to the number of places that have been resolutely pronounced healthy by one half, while the other half their inhabitants were sick. St. Louis has been declared healthier than Boston, Cincinnati than Albany, Utica than New- York, and, to cap the climax of false- WEST INDIES AND FLORIDA. 15 hood, New Orleans has been claimed to be healthier than any northern city. The inhabitants of Kentucky and Virginia have removed to Upper Missouri ; those of New England and New- York to Ohio, Illinois, Michilimackinac, and Green Bay ; those of the western States to the New England sea- board ; and those of the northern and middle States to Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louis- iana, and Texas ; and all on account of their health. This has arisen in part from the restlessness of those afflicted with chronic complaints, but mostly from the temporary benefit experienced by almost every one by the mere change of climate and scene, through the influence of the nerves, without regard to the effects of a continued residence in the par- ticular climate. Because the immediate ef- fect is agreeable, it is hastily concluded that the newly tried climate is good, and every sacrifice is made to remove to it: with what results let the thousand disappointed wander- ers after health answer. Having once made the experiment without success, the unfortu- nate patient concludes that nothing can help him, and, without further expense or trouble, settles down into a calm state of despondency, 16 A WINTER IN THE and drags out the residue of a miserable ex- istence. Instead of vainly asking opinions as to climate, let us, in the first place, carefully consider what are the causes of a fine and what of a bad climate, and where they are found ; and, secondly, what cases of disease are most affected by climate. 1. The causes of a good climate are few and simple: an even temperature, warm or cool / an atmosphere at once dry and pure. Those of a bad climate, extreme heat or cold, variableness, humidity and impurity of atmosphere. In proportion as the former or latter preponderate, the climate will be good or bad as a general thing. Now, apply this principle to our own country. New England has dryness of atmosphere in general, because the soil is dry, and the growth of vegetation not rank. To the sound in constitution, there- fore, it is a good climate. But it is subject not only to severe cold for a great part of the time, but also at times to extreme heat, and, what is worse than either, to the most sudden transitions from one to the other. Therefore, though a great proportion of the healthy may keep so, when disease has once got foothold in the system, it is almost impossible to get WEST INDIES AND FLORIDA. 17 rid of it. The cold wind of an hour will blow away the improvement of a week : and even in the summer, when the feeble patient will almost suffocate with heat in the middle of the day, he finds perspiration suddenly checked at night, and requires three, blankets covering to sleep warm. In the western part of New- York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri, the same evils prevail ; in some places perhaps not to so great an extent ; but here there is an additional evil of greater magnitude. The soil is rich and moist ; the growth of vegetation rank ; and, what is worse yet, there are plenty of fresh lakes, ponds, swamps, sluggish rivers, &c. &c. on almost every side ; and there are no sea breezes to give even a temporary purity to the atmos- phere. However well located a particular place may be, therefore, as to causes in its immediate vicinity, its inhabitants must breathe the great moving mass of air that has passed over hundreds of miles of land imbued with moisture and covered with decaying vegetable matter, from which a most noxious malaria is constantly arising. Because, in particular places certain malaria has pro- duced a particular disease only within a short 18 A WINTER IN THE distance of the place where it originated, it has been inferred that effluvia from marshes, swamps, moist soil, &c., could not affect the salubrity of the atmosphere, except in its im- mediate vicinity ; and the idea that the inju- rious effects may extend hundreds of miles, has been treated as visionary and absurd, but is none the less true. If a damp floor will affect a whole house, will not a soil of many feet in depth, saturated with water, and ex- posed to the rays of the sun, extend its va- pours miles in height ? It must be so ; or clouds and rain would never be. If an un- wholesome vapour is constantly arising miles in height from the whole surface of a country hundreds of miles in extent, will it not move in a mass in the shape of wind, for hundreds of miles, without becoming much diluted by the mixture of other air, as the warm water of the Gulf Stream makes its way northward without being cooled by the surrounding wa- ters? And if this effluvia does not every where produce specific diseases, is it any more strange that it should affect the general health and constitution of mankind, than that the water of one river should affect the quality of the fishes that live in it, differently from that WEST INDIES AND FLORIDA. 19 of others? Two rivers may each have what is called pure water, and still the shad of one be superior to those of the other. If fishes are affected by the water they breathe, must not we be equally affected by our element of respiration, and is not the general liability to diseases in proportion to the humidity and impurity of the atmosphere ? To-be-sure, the effects are not immediately felt by the robust and hardy, except in particular sections, and the country is therefore, in common parlance, called healthy; but as often as the system becomes prostrated by some sudden attack of disease, the slow recovery in some, and the remaining chronic diseases in other cases, plainly demonstrate the badness of the cli- mate. In New England a person has a fever, and in two weeks is entirely well again. In the western country it takes six or eight weeks to get up at all, and then, in more than half the cases, the patient is not entire- ly well in a year, and in many cases finds permanent chronic disease remaining after all that can be done. It is therefore madness to keep a patient here at least during the fall, winter, and spring months ; and even the summer is bad enough. The mountainous 20 A WINTER IN THE regions of the southern States furnish a pretty good summer residence for invalids : but in the winter, the whole of our southern States are similar to, or worse than November and April in New-York, subject to dampness, cold, and sudden changes, making, on the whole, about as bad a place as could be ima- gined for invalids. The cold is not quite as severe ; but as the preparation for it is not as good, it is as much realized as at the north. When it is considered that these States are situated to the north of the Tropic, and that consequently the wind must be almost con- stantly blowing from the cold regions of the north during winter, sweeping nearly a whole continent, and bearing onward its accumu- lated vapours, is it at all surprising that inva- lids should fare worse here than almost any where else ? The southern people are open- ing their eyes upon this subject; and notwith- standing the general idea at the north, that there is no consumption at the south, nume- rous patients afflicted, or at least threatened with that complaint, are now sent from thence to the West Indies, or to the south of Europe, annually. It is only between the Tropics that the requisite uniformity of temperature can be WEST INDIES AND FLORIDA. 21 found. The West India Islands are the most accessible to us on account of proximity, and are, in many other respects, the best resort on earth for those afflicted with chronic diseases. They have the pure ocean on the north and east, from whence the wind always blows, and it is only necessary to avoid immediate local causes of disease to have as healthy a climate as the earth can afford. Let those who are enamoured with the idea of southern Europe read the journal of Lord Byron, or any body else who has kept one there, and they will be satisfied. They will soon per- ceive that rain, mud, hail, sleet, and snow, are not so pleasant things as to compensate for going three thousand miles, especially when we have enough of them at home to be had gratis. Clark on Climates and Diseases gives a particular description of all the places of re- sort in southern Europe, and shows them all far inferior to Madeira as resorts for invalids ; and from his description of the latter, it will be seen that in winter cold is a serious evil there. The thermometer falls at times as low as fifty degrees, and rainy days are frequent. At page 160-1, he cites the opinion of Dr. Hei- 22 A WINTER IN THE neken, who resided at Madeira on account of a pulmonary complaint, that the summer there is far more favourable than the winter, and that pulmonary invalids had better spend the winter in the West Indies, and the summer in Madeira. At page 164, (note,) Dr. Clark says, that he intended to have given some account of the climate of the West Indies, believing that they would atford a better winter resort than any he had described, but that he had been unable to obtain sufficient information to satisfy himself upon the subject. The fear of yellow fever in the West Indies, which has deterred many from going there, is altogether unfounded. In summer or winter, with ordinary care, there is no danger. The cases of yellow fever generally occur on board vessels, and about particular ports, which are known from local causes to be unhealthy, sum- mer and winter. An invalid will of course keep away from such places, and be safe. If he does riot, it is his own fault. In all other places there are no fevers without great expo- sure to the heat of the sun, and the cure is easy in case of an attack much easier than similar attacks at the north. After reading O the following chapters, the reader can judge WEST INDIES AND FLORIDA. 23 for himself as to the correctness of these observations. 2. There is scarcely any disease but what is more or less affected by climate ; but it is only chronic affections that afford an oppor- tunity for benefit by a change. In fevers, acute inflammations, and such like violent diseases, of course the patient must combat the enemy wherever he meets with the at- tack, as he cannot get away ; but in almost all cases of sub-inflammation of the lungs, bronchial tubes, stomach, liver, or any part of the mucus membrane, producing catarrh, asth- ma, stricture of the chest, coughs, dyspepsia, &c.