NATIVE DISEASES. 439 



I had before procured ; but they attain, I was in- 

 formed, the size of our domestic cat, living, in the 

 wild state, upon the summits of the trees, eating 

 fruit, and catching birds as their food. The ani- 

 mal is very fond of sugar-cane, plantain, rice, and 

 the flesh of fowls, and will also kill and eat those 

 troublesome insects, the cock-roaches. It, how- 

 ever, became so very savage on board, that I was 

 obliged at last to destroy it. 



I was frequently applied to by the natives, 

 when sick, to administer medicines to them. 

 There were several suff'ering from different kinds 

 of tumours ; one, near the nose, I offered to 

 remove ; but although the person promised to 

 come on board for the purpose, I afterwards heard 

 he was afraid, and altered his mind. Amons: 

 many patients was a little girl, belonging to a 

 Moorman, suffering from Diarrhoea mucosa : her 

 body had been rubbed entirely over with a mix- 

 ture of turmeric, sandal-wood, and oil, as a 

 remedy for the disease. The yellow appearance 

 — the usual indication of sickness — was not the 

 result, as may have been expected, of some 

 disease, but merely a daubing over the body of 

 the above-mentioned composition, — this being 

 the remedy for all diseases. The common Hin- 

 doo application of cow-dung and turmeric is 

 frequent for external wounds or bruises, and 



