ST. AUGUSTIN TO BAHAMA ISLANDS 295 



sorts of cray-fish and crabs in these waters, and a 

 good many of them are used for food. 



Also a few varieties of Echini (' Sea-eggs '), several 

 sorts of larger cockles, ('Conchs' and ' Welks,' 

 Strombus Gigas and Turbo margaritaceas L.), are 

 eaten by the less fastidious of the inhabitants ; a va- 

 riety of the lepas (Chiton squamosus L.f), which 

 everywhere clings fast to the rocks by the sea, is 

 pricked from the shell by the fishermen and negroes, 

 and eaten raw like oysters. 



The chief foods then of the greater, and poorer, part 

 of these islanders are fish, amphibia, and Crustacea, 

 materials in consequence of a slimy, tough nature. In 

 addition they consume much salted meat, brought in 

 from Europe and America. The practicioners here 

 attribute the commonest diseases, arising from stop- 

 pages of the bowels and cacochymy, to the foods in 

 use. There is mentioned in various English medical 

 authors an Arthritis bahamensis ; but during my stay 

 I could not learn of any special kind of gout * peculiar 

 to these islanders, or appearing here oftener than else- 

 where. On the other hand it has been remarked that 

 during the past 7-8 years bilious diseases have been 

 more frequent and worse than formerly, notwithstand- 

 ing the manner of life has been the same, except that 

 during the American war the importation of fresh 

 foods, meats and fowls, had to be foregone. 



* At least, no one on the islands could give me any light 

 as to this. But the explanation is to be found in the London 

 Philos. Transact, for 1675, where there is an account of poi- 

 sonous fishes met with in the Bahama waters, which if eaten 

 cause extremely violent pains, especially in the joints, persist- 

 ing several days and finally passing off with an itch. 



