'34a ulloa's voyage to south America. 



after all the experiments that have been made, no good method of treatment has been 

 difcovei'ed ; no fpecific for curing it, nor prefervative againft it. The fymptoms are fo 

 vague, as fometimes not to be diftinguifhed from thofe of flight indifpofitions ; and 

 though the vomit be the determinate fymptom, the fever preceding it is obferved to be 

 very opprellive, and extremely afFefting to the head. 



This diftemper does not ihew itfelf immediately after the arrival of the European fhips 

 in the bay, nor has it been long known here ; for what was formerly called Chape- 

 tonades, were only indigeftions, which, though always dangerous in thefe climates, were, 

 with little difficulty, cured by remedies prepared by the women of the country, and 

 which are ftill ufed with fuccefs, efpecially if taken in the beginning. The fhips after- 

 wards going to Porto Bello, were there firfl attacked by this terrible difeafe, which has 

 always been attributed to the inclemency of the climate, and the fatigue of the feamen 

 in unloading the fhips, and drawing the goods during the fair. 



The vomito prieto was unknown at Carthagena and all along the coall, till the years 

 1729 and 1730. In 1729, Don Domingo Jufliniani, commodore of the guarda coflas, 

 loft fo confiderable a part of his fhips* companies at Santa Martha, that the furvivors 

 were flruck with aflonifhment and horror at the havock made among their comrades. 

 In 1730, when the galleons under Don Manuel Lopez Pintado came to Carthagena, the 

 feamen were feized with the fame dreadful mortality ; and fo fudden were the attacks 

 of the difeafe, that perfons walking about one day, were the next carried to their 

 graves. 



The inhabitants of Carthagena, together with thofe in the whole extent of its go- 

 vernment, are very fubjed: to the mal de San Lazaro, or leprofy, which feems flill to 

 gain ground. Some phyficians attribute the prevalence of it to pork, which is here a 

 very common food ; but it may be objected, that in other countries, where this flefh 

 .is as frequently eaten, no fuch effefts are feen, whence it evidently appears that fome 

 latent quality of the climate mull alfo contribute to it. In order to flop the contagion 

 of this diflemper, there is without the city, an hofpital called San Lazaro, not far from 

 the hill on which is a caflle of the fame name. In this hofpital all perfons of both 

 fexes labouring under this diflemper are confined, without any dillindlion of age or rank ; 

 and if any refufe to go, they are forcibly carried thither. But here the diflemper in- 

 creafes among themfelves, they being permitted to intermarry, by which means it is 

 rendered perpetual. Befides, their allowance being here too fcanty to fubfifl on, they 

 are permitted to beg in the city ; and from their intercourfe with thofe in health, the 

 number of lepers never decreafes, and is at prefent fo confiderable, that their hofpital 

 refembles a little town. Every perfon at his entering this flrufture, where he is to con- 

 tinue during life, builds a cottage, called in the country Bujio, proportional to his 

 ability, where he lives in the fame manner as before in his houfe, the prohibition of not 

 going beyond the limits prefcribed him, unlefs to afk alms in the city, only excepted. 

 The ground on which the hofpital flands is furrounded by a wall, and has only one 

 gate, and that always carefully guarded. 



Amidfl all the inconveniences attending this diflemper, they live a long time under 

 it, and fome even attain to an advanced age. It alfo greatly increafes the natural defire 

 of coition, and intercourfe of the fexes ; fo that, to avoid the diforders which would 

 refult from indulging this paffion, now almofl impofTible to be controlled, they are per- 

 mitted to marry. 



If the leprofy be common and contagious in this cHmate, the itch and herpes are 

 equally fo, efpecially among Europeans, who are not feafoned to the climate ; and, if 

 negleded in the beginning, it is dangerous to attempt a cure when cullom has rendered 



2 them. 



