BOOK III. CHAP. VI. 52; 



nourifli, orrefreHi the body, that the dainticfl peiTon need not beat a 

 lofs in felefting fuch as are moft palatable to him. The olio?, or 

 pepper-pots, here (which conftitute the ordinary food of the Ne- 

 gi-oes, were the moftefteemed diflies among the Spaniards, and are 

 equally reliflied by our natives or Creoles) confirm the propriety 

 of luch a diet as I have propofed ; for they confift of flefh or fifli, ■ 

 greens, roots, plantains, okra-pods, and pulfe, differently mingled 

 and prepared; fo that there is a great variety in their preparation 

 and flavour ; and every change in fucceffion of the ingredients 

 prefents fome novelty, which is certainly no fmall recommendation ; 

 for they can be fo altered in tafte, by putting in fome vegetable or 

 animal ingredients, and omitting others, as to feem entirely a new 

 difh ; and they are unqueftionably a moft wholefome kind of food 

 for Europeans newly arrived, provided they are not too highly 

 feafoned with pepper. 



Inftead of attending to what reafon points out, moft Europeans, ■ 

 after their arrival here, perfift in devouring vaft quantities of ani- 

 mal food, with very little (if any) mixture of vegetable : they 

 indulge in bad butter, cheefe, falt-beef, ham ; and wafli them 

 down with deluges of porter, ale, bad cyder, and all forts of wines. 

 The butter imported hither is often in a ftate of putrefcence when 

 it arrives; in general, it is rancid. So acrimonious an ingredient in 

 diet is noxious to health, diforders the flomach, and, oftener than is 

 fufpecled, gives rife to thofe terrible fevers, whofe fource is a viti- - 

 ated bile [/]. 



[/] The nourifliment is extremely hurtful which is drawn from fiibftances difficult to be dil- ■ 

 foWed, which tend to putrefaftion, and cannot eafily be aflimilated ; fuch as dried-fifli, and par- 

 ticularly cheefe, which is often putrid, bacon, and old oil. Butter, in warm climates, by being kept 

 a fliort time on board fliip, grows rank and fetid ; for it frequently happens in fhips, j)artlcularlv • 

 thofe bound to the Weft-Indies in a warm feafon, that it melts away, like oil, in the firkins, by 

 which it lofes great part. ot its fait; and, the inteftine motion being iucreafed by the heat, il ■' 

 becomes bitter and ft;inks. Such grofs food not only refifts the powers of digeflion veiy much; . 

 but the juices, drawn from them, aie of a very aciid mature. Rouppe. 



Many particles ot fielli, though caretully faked, will in time grow putrid, as appears from Dr. 

 Addington's experiment; who put a fmall piece of fiilted beef into water, and at the fame lime ■ 

 a like piece of frcfli, unfalted beef into another like cjuaniity of water, and found the faked flefli 

 to iVink firfl; ; which proves the tendency of it to putiefaftion, though the fait kce];s it from oN 

 fending the talfe or fmcll : fo that faked fiedi, as well as putrid air, has a tetideucy tooccafiou the ■■ 

 fcuivy, as v.ellas otlier putrid diflempers. . 



Chocolatft'ti 



