THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 37 



nofes and mouths, not unlike thofc which are one of the 

 malignant confequences of the venereal difeafe. The fmall 

 fwellings or eruptions, when fqueezed, very often yield 

 blood ; in other refpe&s the patient is generally in good 

 health, faving the pain the ulcers give him, and the Hill 

 greater uneafinefs of mind which he fuffers from the fpoil- 

 ing of the fmoothnefs of his ikin ; for all the nations in 

 Africa within the tropics are wonderfully affe&ed at the 

 fmalleft eruption or roughnefs of the fkin. A black of Sen- 

 naar will hide himfelf in the houfe where dark, and is 

 not to be feen by his friends, if he mould have two or three 

 pimples on any part of his body. Nor is there any remedy, 

 however violent:, that they will not fly to for immediate re- 

 lief. Scars and wounds are no blemifhes ; and I have feen 

 them, for three or four pimples on their bracelet arm,fuffer 

 the application of a red-hot iron with great refolution and 

 conflancy. 



These two laft difeafes yielded, the firft flowly, and fome- 

 times imperfectly, to mercurials ; and fublimate has by no 

 means in thefe climates the quick and decifive effecSts it has 

 in Europe. The fecond is completely and fpsedily cured by 

 antimonials. 



The next complaint I mail mention, as common in thefe 

 countries, is called Farenteit, a corruption of an Arabic word, 

 which ngnifies the worm of Pharaoh ; all bad things being 

 by the Arabs attributed to thefe poor kings, who feem to be 

 looked upon by pofterity as the evil genii of the country 

 which they once governed.. 



This 



