if 
Ae A me oe te 
tLe IntroduGion. XXKVI 
Afcer what has been faid, it will feem very ftrange that the fame 
Author, who has given one of the beft Accounts of the Indies, in the 
fame Book, Chap. 219. fays, that the Indians of America were made 
and declared Slaves to the Spaniards, for thefe Reafons that they eat 
Piojos, and Gufanos (our very Cofi before-mentioned from che cor- 
rupted word Cufi) Crudos, that they intoxicated themfelves with their 
Kinds of Wines, that is of Maiz, ¢c. and {moak of Tobacco, and 
that they were without Beards, and if they had any grew, they 
pluck’d them out. Thefe Reafons, though appearing {mall, yet were 
the only Pretences, according to their own Hiftorians, of driving them 
to Slavery in Mines, where the greateft part of them perifhed. 
And if any compaffionate Perfon oppos'd thele inhuman Proceedings, 
fuch was the Power of Intereft, as to bring him fpeedily to the 
like end, as appears by the fad Story of Bartholomea de las Cafas. 
The moft common Drink here is Water. ’*Yis reckoned the 
moft wholefome Drink by many, amongft whom I am one. Tis 
a common Cuftom to drink a large Draught of Water ia the 
Morning here, which is thoughr to prevent the Belly-ach; it may. 
very well be, in that not only icmay cool the inam’d Blood, creating” 
a Rhumatifm, (very often taken for, and almoft always join’d with 
the true Belly-ach,) but that alfo ic may clear the Guts of fome 
fower, or fharp parts that may lie in them, the Relicks of Lime- 
juice, or other Heterogeneous or Morbifick Matter lodg’d in any of 
their Cells, and ‘tis the more proper for this, in that ‘cis a Menfl uum 
very fit to diffolve, as well as dilute all faline and acid Sub{tances, 
and that ic may by its fluidity run into every corner of thefe Paflages 
through which it muft go. And cherefore in large quantities drank, 
it may be affirm’d to be che beft Counter Poilon. 
The Spitle, and Excretions of the Glandule of the Ventricle and 
Guts, are known to be the chief diffolvents of on Victuals, to 
which Water, by its Analyfis, feems to be next a kin, Ic diffolves 
all forts of Food, making them foft, and intoaGelly (which parts 
Nature feems to want) whereas Wine is for thofe Gelatias a very 
improper, if not impoflible Menfirunm, “Tis every where ready at 
hand to all Mankind, and all Sanguineous Animals coming near the 
Stru@ture of Mankind, make ufe of no other with their good wills. 
Water when put into the Stomach, diflolves what ever is noutifhable 
in our Viétuals, carries it chrongh the Vewe Lattee into the Blood, ine 
creafes the Lympha, to dilute the Chy!e, and chen goes off without 
leaving any Heterogeneous parts in the Blood or Stomach, whereas 
Wine or vinous Liquors do not that. Negros, Indians, Mabumetans, 
and a great partof Mankind know not the ule of this Wine or vinous 
Liquors, and yet look frefher, aud are much healthier than we. The 
a oe Northern 
