1835 -J HYDROPHOBIA. 339 



in like manner much more subject to this visitation than others. 

 Dr. Unaniie states that hydrophobia was first known in South 

 America in 1803: this statement is corroborated by Azara and 

 Ulloa having never heard of it in their time. Dr. Unaniie says 

 that it broke out in Central America, and slowly travelled south- 

 ward. It reached Arequipa in 1807; and it is said that some men 

 there, who had not been bitten, were affected, as were some negroes, 

 who had eaten a bullock which had died of hydrophobia. At lea 

 forty-two people thus miserably perished. The disease came on 

 between twelve and ninety days after the bite; and in those cases 

 where it did come on, death ensued invariably within five clays. 

 After 1808, a long interval ensued without any cases. On inquiry, 

 I did not hear of hydrophobia in Van Diemen's Land, or in 

 Australia ; and Burchell says, that during the five years he was at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, he never heard of an instance of it. 

 Webster asserts that at the Azores hydrophobia has never oc- 

 curred; and the same assertion has been made with respect to 

 Mauritius and St. Helena.* In so strange a disease, some infor- 

 mation might possibly be gained by considering the circumstances 

 under which it originates in distant climates ; for it is improbable 

 that a dog already bitten, should have been brought to these distant 

 countries. 



At night, a stranger arrived at the house of Don Bem'to, and 

 asked permission to sleep there. He said he had been wandering 

 about the mountains for seventeen days, having lost his way. He 

 started from Guasco, and being accustomed to travelling in the 

 Cordillera, did not expect any difficulty in following the track to 

 Copiapo; but he soon became involved in a labyrinth of moun- 

 tains, whence he could not escape. Some of his mules had fallen 

 over precipices, and he had been in great distress. His chief 

 difficulty arose from not knowing where to find water in the lower 

 country, so that he was obliged to keep bordering the central 

 ranges. 



We returned down the valley, and on the 22nd reached the town 

 of Copiapo. The lower part of the valley is broad, forming a fine 

 plain like that of Quillota. The town covers a considerable space 



* Observa. sobro cl Cliuia de Lima, p. 67. Azara's Travels, vol. i. 

 p. 381. Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 28. Burchell's Travels, vol. n. p. 524. 

 -Webster's Description of the Azores, p. 124. Voyage a 1 Isle de * ranee 

 par im Officer du Roi, tome i. p. 248.- Description of St. Helena, p. 12d. 



