Notes on Natal : an old colonist's book for new settlers / edited by John Robinson.
- John Robinson
- Date:
- 1872
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Notes on Natal : an old colonist's book for new settlers / edited by John Robinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![The condition of dwelling is an important consideration; and it should be borne in mind that whilst a house requires to be well ventilated, it should also iDrove an efficient protection against the out-door heat. A high- pitched roof, without parapets, is most serviceable. The verandahs should be broad and so arranged that they may be closed by sliding when necessary. The rooms of the house require to be large and lofty, with ventilators over the windows, and fan-Hghts over the doors. Iron is usually found to be a good material for the roof; and provided the rooms are sufficiently lofty and the ceiKngs boarded, it dees not materially increase the heat. Lightning conductors of an ajjproved character are indispensable in a country where thunderstorms are of frequent occurrence and severity during the summer season. When there is a free choicR, a gravelly or concrete soil and sloping ground are to be preferred to a clay soil and low, level site. A tenacious claj'- soil, a rich alluvium, or a dry surface soil with water at a short distance beneath, should be avoided, but especially the flat banks of rivers or streams, or the flat base of hills, as well as marshy sjjots and the neighbourhood of stagnant water. The worst combination of site and soil is a flat, rich, alluvial deposit between a hill and a stream. Such s]pots are the favourite haunts of continued fevers as marshes are of agues. In England, a south aspect is to be preferred to all others, but in Natal, the opposite is desirable. A north or north-easterly aspect possesses several advantages, as a house thus situated will be in a great measure sheltered fi-om the heavy rains and winds prevalent du.ring the season of spring. When such shelter is not afforded, it may be obtained by plantations, which should in no case be so near the house as to obstruct the free movement of the air, or to endanger the foundation of the building by the growth of roots. A good supply of clear, colouiiess spring-water, and a supply of rain-water, amounting to at least ten gallons per head per diem, are grea.t desiderata. As intestinal worms f Oscares Lumhricoides and Tenia Solum J are somewhat prevalent in the colony, and proceed possibly from impure water, it is highly necessary to bo careful in this respect, and for drinking purposes a charcoal filter wiU be found of service. Health, however, in Natal, as in other countries, is greatly dependent upon halits of life; and those which chiefly militate against it are dissipation, intemperance, irregularity in the time](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24750517_0226.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
