SECTION XVI.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE HEALTH AND COMFORT OF TRAVELLERS, PARTICULARLY IN WARM CLIMATES, AND SEA VOYAGES.

THE variety of changes and occurrences, physically and corporeally, which take place in the locomotive actions of travellers, connected with the anxieties of mind to which many of these give rise, and which so frequently interfere with the bodily health, render it absolutely necessary that some rules should be laid down, as far as warranted by experience, to guide such as may, for the want of such knowledge, be misled as to the consequences which often result from the absence of proper attention to things seemingly in themselves of an indifferent nature, but which are known, frequently when too late, to be of the most vital importance to health.

I. A traveller ought to be perfectly well acquainted with what agrees or disagrees with his constitution, and observe those rules which custom has established in favour of his health, at least as far as circumstances will admit of. He will act prudently, to pay a strict attention with regard to eating, drink

ing, dress, exercise, and rest, and conform to the customs and mode of life of the most sober class of the inhabitants of the country he is in. Experience has taught people of all countries, which manner of living is the most wholesome in the climate they inhabit.

II. Though the siesta (the afternoon's sleep), perfectly agrees with most foreigners in Spain and Italy, it is liable, nevertheless, to bring on apoplexies in cold climates, where meat and soporiferous malt liquors are used in great quantity. Travellers in warm climates, who may be invited to an afternoons' sleep, ought to observe, that the duration of it should be proportioned to the quick or difficult digestion of the person a quarter of an hour, or half an hour is sufficient: people should always be awakened before the end of an hour. To sleep in a horizontal position would be prejudicial; the fittest place for that kind of rest is in an arm-chair, or a canopee. to be laid high, and the body bent little turned towards the left side. is likely to interrupt the circulation of the blood must be removed, otherwise violent head-achs will be felt.

The head ought backwards, and a Every thing that

III. Water is very unwholesome in some places, and ought to be considered so, if soap will not dissolve in it. If a person should happen to be very thirsty, and no other drink to be had, that water should be strained through a piece of very fine linen, and a little vinegar, juice of lemon, or a piece of toasted bread put

into it. It would be still better to boil it, if the cir cumstances will admit, and drink it when cool. Wells that are situated in marshy grounds, or near privies, or those which are observed to have a whitish scum on the surface of the water, are generally reckoned to be unwholesome.

IV. Violent exercise after dinner is prejudicial, and more so in warm countries than in cold ones; people, therefore, who travel on horseback, or in a vehicle whose motion is rather violent, will act prudently, if they eat and drink sparingly. The shaking of the carriage heats the blood, consequently strong liquors should be taken with the greatest moderation, particularly in southern climates.

V. Cleanliness requires people to bathe oftener when they are travelling than when they are at home; yet they must be very careful never to bathe when their blood is agitated, or the stomach full, or the day is very hot. The cool morning and evening hours are the only times to take this salutiferous recreation. Even the most expert swimmer should never bathe in the sea or in a river, without taking along with him another person, who knows how to swim. He should be careful to choose a bathing place where the bottom is clear sand, and has no weeds upon it; for they frequently contain a species of pointed shells, which are apt to inflict dangerous wounds, if trodden upon. One of the most necessary precautions in bathing, is to

plunge into the water head foremost, otherwise the blood rushing into the head exposes the person to an apoplectic attack.

VI. Travellers in carriages are very liable to have their legs swelled; in order to prevent being thus incommoded, it will be advisable to wear shoes rather than boots, to untie the garters, to alight now and then, and to walk as often as opportunity permits it, which will favour circulation. If the windows of the carriage are kept to, the air is soon affected, and may prove prejudicial to respiration.

VII. Feather beds and counterpanes of cotton are very liable to collect noxious exhalations; for this reason those who travel ought to make use of hart skins, described under the remarks on inns.*

VIII. The vapours of charcoal are also exceedingly prejudicial: people should be remarkably careful never to permit a pan of charcoal to be brought into their apartment, unless it be quite burnt to ashes. It would otherwise be dangerous to sleep with it in the bedroom, as, in this manner, a great many lives have been lost.

IX. In marshy grounds the air is remarkably unhealthy, and there are countries, for instance, the

* See an Essay to direct and extend the Inquiries of Patriotic Travellers. By Count Leopald Berchtold.

Pontin Marshes in the Pope's dominions, where it is often attended with fatal consequences to sleep even in day time. Foreigners should inform themselves minutely concerning the salubrity or unwholesomeness of the air of those places where they sleep, and take the necessary precautions to guard against the destructive effects of the latter.

X. Sweet or boiled wines, such as are to be found in the papal dominions on the coast of the Adriatic, delay the digestive faculty for a long time, and as they tend excessively to inflame the blood, they ought to be used in the most sparing manner.

XI. Fresh fruit, and even the ripest grapes, relax the stomach in hot climates, and an immoderate meal on them would infallibly produce the most dangerous consequences, if bread was omitted to be eaten with them.

XII. Travellers in warm climates should abstain from meat as much as possible, particularly at night, otherwise they might be exposed to putrid fevers, which are seldom easily removed.

XIII. Sleeping with the windows open in hot cli mates is so unwholesome, that many have hardly time enough to repent of their imprudence. Those who travel on foot should never sleep under the shadow of a tree, nor near a hemp field.