46 A VOYAGE TO Book T. 



him, uñlefs to ailv alms in the city, only excepted. 

 The ground on which the hofpital ftands is furrounded 

 by a wail, and has only one gate, and that alvays 

 carefully guarded. 



Amidst all the inconveniences attending this dif- 

 temper, they live a long time under it, and fome even 

 attain to an advanced age. It alfo greatly incrcafes 

 the natural delire of coition, and intercoucfe of the 

 fexes ; fo that, to avoid the diiorders which would 

 refult from indulging this pafTion, now almofl impof- 

 fible to he controlled, they are permitted to marry. 



ÍF the leprofy be common and contagious in this 

 climate, the itch and herpes are equally fo, efpecially 

 among Europeans, wdio are not lealbned to the cli- 

 mate ; and, if negleéled in the beginning, it is danger- 

 ous to attempt a cure when cuitom has rendered them 

 natural. The remedy agalnil them, in the fir ft iiage, 

 is a kind of earth culled rncquimaqui, found in the 

 neighbourhood of Carthagena, and, on the account 

 of this virtue, exported to other parts. 



Another very fingular diitemper, though not fo 

 common, is the cobrilla, or little inake, being, as the 

 moft ikilful think, a tumour caufed by certain malig- 

 nant humours, fettled longitudinally between the 

 membrane of the Ikin, and daily increaling in length, 

 till the fvvelling quite furrounds the part afíeéted, 

 which is ufually the arm, thigh, and leg ; though 

 fometimes it has been known to fpread itfelf all over 

 thefe parts. The external indications of it arc, a 

 round inflamed tumour, of the thicknels of a quarter 

 of an inch, attended with a flight pain, but not vehe- 

 ment, and a numbnefs of the part, which often termi- 

 nates in a mortification. The natives are very flvilful 

 in removing it by the following procefs. They firfl: 

 examine where (according to their phrafe) the head is, 

 to which they apply a fraall fuppurative plafl^er, and 

 gently foment the whole tumour with oil. The next 

 day the ikin under the plafl;er is found divided, and 



through 



