and not to the insalubrity of the Site. Sam borne out in this opinion by a fact casually mentioned to me this day by Dr. Bridgeman,
that there has been
"
no serious sickness whatever amongst the Europeans or Natives, and the distance between, and difference in the relative height of, the two Hills is so trifling, that to build a theory of one being healthy and the other the contrary, strikes me as totally inadmissible.
I cannot return these Enclosures without alluding to the great surprise with which I have perused that part of Major Aldrich's Letter, remarking
on Mr. Matheson's opinion. The latter Gentleman offered, in a private Note,
as to the relative salubrity of two positions to which he had occasion to allude, and I not only most fully agree with him
for the reasons he assigned, but think the experience
526
experience of even the past season is strongly in favor of the superior eligibility of the tops of Hills. Whether he was right or wrong
however, his intention was firm and I have no wish whatever to get rid
either of the Hill or Gough, and I have thought it due to Mr. Matheson to state what I now do, as it seems to me it might
be inferred from Major Aldrich's letter, that that Gentleman had an interested motive
for giving his opinion, and that there had been more sickness on Leighton's Hill, than in other places - which I believe Sam correct in saying has not been the case.
even on board ship in the Harbour -
(Signed) Henry Pottinger
No89