^266 FROM GUAHON TO ST. HELENA. 



southern monsoon must be intolerable ; many peo- 

 ple then die suddenly when they are heated and 

 expose themselves to the north wind, which some- 

 times blows in the summer. There is a sickness 

 called St. Lazaro, the most frightful that I ever 

 heard of. They have first a leprosy over the 

 whole body ; the limbs rot off, and the unfortunate 

 person, who has inevitable death before his eyes, 

 retains his senses to the last moment in the most 

 excruciating torments. This sickness prevails prin- 

 cipally among the poorest natives, and is probably 

 caused by bad fare and uncleanliness. An hos- 

 pital in Manilla, which is supported by govern- 

 ment and the rich people of the town, is filled with 

 people ill of this disease, and a monk, who has had 

 the superintendance of it for twenty years, was of 

 opinion that there was no remedy against this pu- 

 nishment of God, as he termed it. I made the 

 observation, that the poor creatures had dirty 

 woollen clothes next to the skin, and received 

 spoiled meat for their food ; but when I asked 

 whether clean linen and healthy fare would not 

 ameliorate their condition, I w^as answered, that it 

 would cost too much ! 



Lazy as the natives are in their work, they pos- 

 sess the more ingenuity in cheating, particularly 

 strangers. Their only pleasure, of which they are 

 passionately fond, is cock-fighting ; and they bring 

 up cocks for this purpose, which they always carry 

 about with them. In every village there is a 



