BOOK lir. CHAP. Vr. 525 



by wliich regulation, he thinks, many of the ordinary mifchicfs, 

 attending the conftant ufe of putrefccnt faked meats, may be pre- 

 vented. 



The example of fome people in the Eadern part of the world has 

 been quoted, by many writers, to (liew that vegetables are the na- 

 tural appropriated food for hot climates ; but there are fome cir- 

 cumftances attending it, in thofe Eaftern climes, which efcaped 

 obfervation, or were not known. The truth feems to be, that the 

 iinimal food, in fome of thofe Eaftern parts, is naturally unfit for 

 food; of which Mr. Ofbeck mentions inftances. The Gentoos at 

 Surat eat nothing but milk, butter, and vegetables. They have 

 fielh in great plenty, but fuch as probably is not very wholefomc, 

 efpecially to thofe who come on ftiore after a voyage, and indulge 

 their appetites. They are fubje<fl to vomitings and diarrhoeas, and 

 are in danger of lofing their lives. On this account, Mr. Olbeck 

 is of opinion, that Brama, or whoever at firfl: gave law to thefe 

 people, had difcovered that thefe meats were very unwholefome to 

 the Malabarians. " If all the Malabaric oxen (continues he) 

 *' were like thofe which we got, it is no wonder that the Gentoos 

 *« will not eat their flelTi ; the meer defcription of them would 

 " make the mofl hungry lofe their appetites." And he attributes 

 to this meat, that many of the SwediQi failors were afterwards ex- 

 ceedingly tormented with intolerably bloody ulcers. This gen- 

 tleman's conje£lure on the origin of their total vegetable diec feems, 

 therefore, well-grounded ; efpecially as the Jewidi law-giver pro- 

 hibited the ufe of fwine's flelh, which in Palefline, perhaps, had 

 a particular ill quality, and was thought to have firft produced that 

 horrid difeafe the leproiy, with which the inhabitants were fo 

 much afflifted. 



It is by no means certain, that a total vegetable diet is proper in 

 hot climates, at leafl: not in all of them, nor at .all times indifcri- 

 minately. Although vegetables in thefe climates are better con- 

 cofted and matured by the heat of the fun, and tnerefore more nu- 

 tritious, and in general whotefomer, than in Europe ; yet^ after 

 violent rains, the vaft quantity of waer that defcends upon the 

 earth renders all forts of roots, phu.ts, and fruits, for feme time, 

 crude and unwholefome. This more efpecially happens, if a courfe 



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