Note 32 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
It has been remarked, by those who have happened to be in Payta during rain, that the soil on these occasions emits a suffocating and oppressive smell. This is probably owing to the quantity of animal and vegetable matter which, during a long continuance of dry weather, accumulates and is left to dry in the sun; and is partially dissolved by the rain, and absorbed by the circumambient air. It would be worth ascertaining by accurate observation whether the typhus of Piura ever becomes aggravated in type in rainy seasons. We never heard of its being contagious.