i62 JAMAICA. 



6. Regimen of life, and diet, whilft under the courfe? 



7. What medicines preparatory to, or to cooperate with, the ufe 

 ofit[c]? 



In general, it is drank immediately from the fprlng, heglnning with 

 one half-pint glafs, and increafing the number to three or more. 

 It has been found to have the beft efFed taken on an empty flo- 

 rnach early in the morning; but fome repeat the draught in the 

 afternoon, befides taking a confiderable quantity, mixed with a 

 little rum and fugar, by way of a diluent at dinner. All fruits and 

 other acids are caution fly abftained from, and vegetables fparingly 

 indulged. The diet moft ufual confifts of fifti, black crabs, fowls, 

 and the more delicate kinds of butchers meat, with puddings, and 

 the like. At firfl: drinking, it diftufes a thrilling glow over the 

 whole body ; and the continued ufe enlivens the fpirits, and fome- 

 times produces almofl the {lime joyous efFe£ts as inebriation. On 

 this account, fome notorious topers have quitted their claret for 

 a while, and come hither, merely for the fake of a little variety 

 in their pradice of debauch, and to enjoy the Angular felicity of 

 getting drunk with water. The cold fulphureous fpring, which 

 rifes near Blue Mountain Valley, in this parifli, fome miles VVefl:- 

 ward of the bath, is more grofs, and abundantly impregnated with 

 fulphur, diftinguiflied by the foetorof its fmell and inflammable fe- 

 diment. It is efteemed more effedual than ;:he other in all cuta- 

 neous diforders, obftinate obflruftions in the bowels, the fcurvy,. 

 and all the other difpofitions of the juices that require flrong lixi- 

 vious dilTolvents : for thefe reafons, in fome habits, it is recom- 

 mended to fucceed a moderate courfe of the hiOt fpring ; but it is 

 not much frequented, except by inhabitants of the neighbourhood. 

 The mountains, between which the Sulphur River takes its courfe, 

 defcend on each fide with fo precipitous a declivity, that it was 

 found imprafticable to build a town at the fpring; there is barely 

 room to admit a bathing-houfc, and even this is inconveniently 

 fituated on the fide oppofite the fpring ; fo that, before the water 

 can be conveyed acrofs in a wooden gutter, laid from the rock to 

 the bathing-houfe, it loles much of its heat and volatile gas. 



fc] See Falconer's treatife ou the Bath-water of Somerfetfliire; which meiits theperufal of any 

 gentleman who mav iniline toiry experiments on that of Jamaica. 



This 



