SOUTH AMERICA. 159 



others. Here then I fixed my head quarters, in THIRD 



JOURNEY. 



the ruins of this once gay and hospitable house. 



Close by, in a little hut, which, in times long past, 

 had served for a store to keep provisions in, there 

 lived a coloured man and his wife, by name Backer. 

 Many a kind turn they did to me ; and I was 

 more than once a service to them and their 

 children, by bringing to their relief in time of 

 sickness, what little knowledge 1 had acquired 

 of medicine. 



I would here, gentle reader, wish to draw thy Raiment 



. . ,, and diet. 



attention, tor a tew minutes, to physic, raiment, 

 and diet. Shouldst thou ever wander through 

 these remote and dreary wilds, forget not to carry 

 with thee, bark, laudanum, calomel, and jalap, and 

 the lancet. There are no druggist shops here, nor 

 sons of Galen to apply to in time of need. I 

 never go encumbered with many clothes. A thin 

 flannel waistcoat under a check shirt, a pair of 

 trowsers, and a hat, were all my wardrobe : shoes 

 and stockings I seldom had on. In dry weather 

 they would have irritated the feet, and retarded 

 me in the chase of wild beasts ; and in the rainy 

 season they would have kept me in a perpetual 

 state of damp and moisture. I eat moderately, 

 and never drink wine, spirits, or fermented liquors 

 in any climate. This abstemiousness has ever 

 proved a faithful friend ; it carried me triumphant 

 through the epidemia at Malaga, where death 

 made such havoc about the beginning of the 



