210 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



lows it, into languor and a consumption, and 

 leads him to the grave. It is said that the women 

 take care to make ready this horrid repast at cer- 

 tain periods of the moon, during which it ought, 

 in their opinion, to produce more certain effects: 

 those of this poison arc terrible indeed. The 

 symptoms are nearly the same as in the scurvy. 

 The body dries up ; all the limbs become exces- 

 sively feeble ; the gums rot, the teeth are loosen- 

 ed ; the beard and the hair fall off: in a v^'ord, 

 after having dragged out a tedious and painful life 

 for a twelvemonth, and sometimes longer, the 

 wretched victim expires in the midst of sufferings. 

 No remedy is known for so many horrors ; it is 

 even asserted that nothing is able to alleviate 

 them. 



This leads me on by a natural transition to 

 mention some remarks, which the practice of 

 physic in Egypt enabled me to make. I have ob- 

 served that it is not easy to purge its robust inha- 

 bitants. Their stomach, accustomed to digest 

 bread badly baked, acrid and raw vegetables, and 

 other gross and unwholesome nourishment, is not 

 easily affected by purgative medicines. Doses 

 which in Europe would occasion the most violent 

 super-purgations, glide harmlessly over their iron 

 stomachs. I have seen eight grains of very strong 

 tartar emetic produce no other effect than some 



slight 



