ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



1095 



*' Butray restoration to rca5on, he 

 says, doos lut arise from any i-xer- 

 fions of his, but the interposition of 

 the blessed virgin, an.l a good In- 

 dian, who, among many others, 

 comes once a year to barter the 

 herl) pardi^uay — a leaf so called, 

 wnicli is h.-re infusi-d and drank in 

 the same manner as tea in China, 

 and which e(|:ially serves to counter- 

 act the pernicious qualities of the 

 watfr; vith this difference, it does 

 not give that ashy paleness to the 

 countenance which is the certain con- 

 sequence of drinking an inordinate 

 quantity of tea. 



'•This Indian, being informed of 

 my malady, gave lo Jerome a p;;per 

 ofdrird loives, n-'arly beat to pow- 

 der, and as'nall bottle of liquid : of 

 the first he bade him tnke a certain 

 quantity and lay flat upon a stone 

 made very hot ; he should then 

 sprinkle them with the liquid, and, 

 ■when the fumes arose, hold my face 

 over it, and endeavour to make me 

 inhale as much of the smoke as pos- 

 sible. T«iis was to be repeated two 

 or three times a day ; always remem- 

 bering to cover my head quite; over 

 with cotton, and keep me for an 

 hour warm in bed. 



'• All these instructions my atten- 

 dant carefully observed. The first 

 application in a few minutes stupi- 

 fied me ; and he covered me up be- 

 fore half the herb was evaporated, 

 at the same time condemning himself 

 as having actually killed me. I re- 

 mained in this state for near two 

 hours and a half, when, to his great 

 joy, I moved, sat up in the bed, and 

 made signs that I wanted drink. 

 This encouraged him to try again, 

 and every succeeding trial answered 

 better than the former , when in the 

 space of four days, during wliich 

 time he had fumigated my head 



eleven times, he saw evident marks 

 of returning reason : and before a 

 fortnight had elapsed I was perfectly 

 rational, tho'igh still weak, languid, 

 and confused. ISly recovery, ^vhicli 

 had been for some time totally de- 

 spaired of, seemed to give pleasure 

 to the whole of the community. 

 They are thirty-four in number, 

 besides the suptrior ; and very 

 much respected both in the town 

 and adjacent country, being by 

 far the richest order in these 

 parts, that of St. Francis alone ex- 

 cepted. V 



During his residence at Buenos 

 Ayres, Mr Davie was treated by 

 the monks with the utmost kindness 

 and humauity, but the jealous cir- 

 cumspection of the Spanish gover- 

 nor condemned him to the dis- 

 agreeable i^ituation of a prisoner ; 

 although without confinement or 

 any of the usual hardships of such a 

 state. Under the protection of the 

 good fathers, our traveller rambled 

 about the country, as much as his 

 weak state of health would admit, 

 and his health and streniith were 

 daily upon the increase. — The mode 

 of living was not, however, much 

 adapted to our traveller's palate, nor 

 indeed can We be surprised at it from 

 the lolloping remarks; 



"At present I am very weak^ 

 but now ray health returns my ap- 

 petite returns wi(h it, and I cannot 

 help wishing for some of our delici- 

 ous roast beef, with its usual api)eH- 

 d,igcs : but though beef is here more 

 plenty by an hundred fold than in 

 England, yet I bJieve it would be 

 next to impossible tor me to obtain 

 my desire. They have not here the 

 smallest conception of a large joint 

 of meat served up as with us. They 

 slaughter animals, it is true, for their 

 tables : but ihsa the flesh is cooked 

 3U3 ia 



