Ch. V. SOUTH AMERICA. 47 



through the orifice appears a kind of white fibre, 

 about the fize of a coarfe fevving thread ; and tiiis, 

 according to them, is the cobrilla's head, which they 

 carefully faiten to a thread of lilk, and wind the other 

 end of it about a card, rolled up hke a cylinder. After 

 this they repeat the fomentation with oil, and the 

 following day continue to wind about the cylindric 

 card the part of this fmall fibre which appears in fight. 

 Thus they proceed till the wholj is extraéled, and the 

 patient entirely cured. During this opciation their 

 chief care is not to break the cobrilla ; becaufe, they 

 fay, it would then caufe a huaiour to fpread through 

 the body, and produce a great quantity of luch little 

 fiiakes, as they will have them to be, when the cure 

 would become extremely diificult. It is a current 

 notion among them, that when it has, for want of 

 care in the beginning, completed the circle, and, ac- 

 cording to them, joined its head with its tail, the dif- 

 cafe generally proves fatal. But this is very feldom 

 the cafe ; the pain warning the patient immediately 

 to apply a remedy, which fiiould be accompanied with 

 emollients for difoerfino; the humour. 



These people firmly believe it to be a real cobrilla 

 or fmall fnake, and accordingly have called it by 

 that name. At its firll appearance, a fmalPfiow mo- 

 tion may indeed be perceived ; but this is foon over, 

 and poiiibly proceeds from the compreflion or exten- 

 fion of the nervous fibres which compofe it, without 

 its having any animal life. I do not, however, pre- 

 tend to determine ablblutely on this point. 



Besides thefe, another difiemper common in this 

 country is the fpafin, or convuHlon, vyhich always 

 proves mortal, and feldom comes alone. And of this 

 1 fliall fpeak when I defcribe other parts of America, 

 where it is equally dangerous, and more commoa. 



CHAP. 



