BOOK III. CHAP. I. 3^, 



fimllar inftincl we are uninformed, but probability is in the afiir- 

 niative. 



Tlic chief medicaments among the Negroes are lime juice, car- 

 damoms, the roots, branches, leaves, bark, and gums of trees, and 

 about thirty different herbs. The latter have been experienced 

 in many cafes wonderfully powerful, and have fubdued difcafes 

 incid«nt to their climate, which have foiled the art of European 

 furgeons at the factories. However, t!,e Negroes generally apply 

 them at. random, without any regard to the particular fymptoms 

 of the difeafe ; concerning which, or the operation of their i/ialeria 

 mcdica, they have formed no theory. 



Rjq::e?nclrng relates, that when he and his companions were 

 amufmg themfelves at Cofla Rica with fliooting at monkies, if one 

 of them happened to be wounded, the reft flocked about him, 

 and while fume laid their paws upon the wound, to hinder the 

 blood from ifiuing forth, others gathered mofs from the trees (or 

 rather probably fome fpecies of {\.y^i\c fungiisj and thruft into the 

 orifice, by which means they flopped the eflufion. At other times 

 they gathered particular herbs, and, chewing them in their mouth, 

 applied them as a poultice; all which, fays he, " caufed in 

 " me great admiration, feeing fuch ftrange adtions in thofe irra- 

 " tional creatures, which teftified the fidelity and love they had 

 " for one another." 



From what fource did thefe monkies derive their chirurgical ikill 

 and knowledge ? From the fame, no doubt, whence the Negroes 

 received theirs — the hands of their Creator ; who has impartially 

 provided all animals with means conducive to their prefervation. 



Diet. 



Maize, palm oil, and a little ftinking fifli, make up the general 

 bill of fare of the prince and the flave ; except that they regale 

 themfelves, as often as they can, with nqua vlt^^ and palm wine [;z], 

 Their old cufcom of gormandizing on human fiefli has in it fome- 

 thing fo naufeous, fo repugnant to nature and reafon, that it would 

 hardly adniit of belief, if it had not been attefted by a multitude 

 of voyagers ; fome of whom aflirm to have been eye-witnclTc? of it, 



[.v] Er.'bot. 



and. 



