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ayel manuscript, was in reality yellow fever; and does so very effectively 

 by reproducing a most remarkable description of that epidemic by an eye- 

 witness, the Yucatan historian, Fray Diego Lopez de Cogolludo, who was 

 himself attacked by the disease. This account is so graphic, so rich in 

 sagacious remarks, and so accurate in its clinical details, that it well 

 deserves to be given here. It runs thus : 



"1648. Shortly after commencement of the solar year, in the month 

 of March, the sun appeared for several days as if eclipsed, the air being so 

 thick that it had the appearance of a mist or condensed smoke. This was so 

 general that every part of the land, from Cozumel to Tabasco, offered the 

 same unwholesome condition. ... In the city of Merida, especially 

 towards evening, when the wind generally sets from the sea, a bad smell was 

 brought with it that could scarcely be borne, and penetrated everywhere. 

 The cause of this smell was unknown until a Spanish vessel happened to 

 run aground over an immense heap of dead fish near the shore. It was from 

 these fish, which were being washed ashore by the tide, that the smell 

 had proceeded, extending as far as the city, and even beyond. In April and 

 May some sudden deaths occurred, which caused alarm in the city of 

 Merida. At the beginning of June the scourge of the peste commenced in 

 the town of Campeche, and in a few days became so severe that the place 

 was completely ravaged. . . . The roads to Campeche were guarded for 

 fear that the contagion should spread; but if the Lord guards not the 

 city what shall human efforts avail ! With this fear of divine justice the 

 month of July passed, until towards the end a few persons began to 

 sicken, dying very soon; but the disease was not considered as epidemic 

 until the month of August. With such violence and rapidity were the people 

 attacked, big and small, rich and poor, that in less than eight days the 

 whole population of the city were sick at the same time, and many citizens 

 of the highest rank and authority died. . . . While the city was thus 

 afflicted by this calamity, never before seen since this country was conquered 

 by the Spanish nation, permission was asked that the image of Our Lady 

 of Itzamal might be brought. . . . Very great was the tribulation, such a 

 calamity having never been experienced before... In other countries epi- 

 demics occur as a common evil which attacks uniformly all the people, but 

 such was not the case in Yucatan, which caused greater confusion. It is 

 impossible to say what the disease ivas, for the physicians did not recognize 

 it. In most of the cases the patients were taken with a most severe and 

 intense headache, and pains in all the bones of their bodies, so violent that 

 their limbs f el¡t as if torn asunder or squeezed in a press. A few moments 

 after the pains there came on a very intense fever which in most instances 

 produced delirium, though not in all. This was followed by vomiting of 

 blood, as if putrefied, and of such cases very few survived. Some were 

 attacked with discharges from the bowels of a bilious humor (humor 



