208 FLORIDA.

prevailing here, they are, after all, merely pure air and
bright sunshine. The supposed extreme heat and unhealth-
fulness of the summer are equally imaginary. Our sum.
mers, particularly in Florida, are long and warm, but in-
stead of being less comfortable and pleasant than those of
the North, they are more so, and in the main fully as de-
lightful as the winters. The thermometer often marks a
higher temperature in New York or Boston than in Fernan-
dina or Jacksonville, and its variations are much greater there
than here. Our nights, even in midsummer, are invariably
cool. We never swelter in our bedchambers, through the
long dark hours, but sleep sweetly under our blankets,'with
the cool, fresh air circulating all around us.
 "We have chills and fever during the summer and au-
tumn in many localities, on the borders of some of our
rivers, creeks, and swamps, and sometimes bilious remittent
fevers. They prevail in similar situations at the North and
West, and are there of a severer type. We do not advise
the invalid to make a permanent home in these malarious
localities ; and, with these exceptions, the South generally is
as salubrious in summer as in winter, and as much so, to say
the least, as any Northern region. Florida affords localities
without number perfectly free from fevers and all other
diseases of local origin. These are found on her numerous
sea-islands and along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as well
as on the more elevated and naturally drained pine-lands of
the interior."