274 JAMAICA. 



Many of the good folks In England have entertained the ftrange 

 ophiion, that the children born in Jamaica of white parents turn 

 fwarthv, through the efFc(ft of the climate; nay, fome have not 

 fcrupledto fuppole, that they are converted into black-a-moors. The 

 truth is, that the children bora in England have not, in general, 

 lovelier or more tranfparent Ikins, than the offspring of white pa- 

 rents in Jamaica. In the Southern parts of the ifland, they have 

 none of that beautiful venneille, (o much admired in England ; 

 but, though expofed, as lively children neceflarily mufl: be, very 

 much to the influence of fun-Hiine, their (kins do not acquire the 

 Eii^lifli tan, but in general grow pale, and of a fainter white. 

 The genuine tan of the fun hero, on faces of healthy, grown perfon-s, 

 who are a good deal in the open air, is a iuffulion of red. The na- 

 tives of both fexes are very remarkable for tliis kind of complexion; 

 and it t^ives them the appearance of fiinguine habits, and vigorous 

 heajth. The brunettes, or thofe of a naturally thick and unper- 

 fpiring Ikin, frequently become browner, a^ they advance in years, 

 and feem to be tinged with a bilious fecretion, which circulates 

 with the blood, and lurks in the fmaller vefl'els, inftead of pafling 

 off as it does in other habits, by the outlets of perfpiration. The 

 many Mulatto, Quateron, and other illegitimate children fent over 

 to England for education, have probably given rife to the opinion 

 before-mentioned; for, as thefe children are often ient to the moft 

 expenfive public fchools, where the hiftory of their birth and pa- 

 I rentage is entirely unknown, they p:.fs under the general name of 

 Weft-Indians ; and the bronze of their complexion is ignorantly af- 

 j cribed to the fervour of the fun in the torrid zone. But the ge- 

 nuine Englifh breed, untainted with thefe heterogeneous mixtures, 

 is obferved to be equally pure and delicate in Jamaica as the mother 

 country. 



The practice of inoculation, according to the modern improve- 

 ments, has been very fuccelbfuliy ufed here. I fliall be forgiven, 

 I am fure, by the ladies, for a fliort digrefhcn on this lubje6t, and 

 for introducing the following fenfible remarks upon it: 



"> Of thofe who take the fmall-pox cafually, one in feven is 

 «< found to die. But, of fifteen hundred patients inoculated in 

 ^' England by the furgeous Ranby, Hawkins, and Middleton, three 



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