360 SOCIAL STATE OF THE ARABS. 



The disorder is not fatal if the person affected can 

 extract the worm, which is slender as a thread and 

 two or three feet long, without breaking it. This is 

 done by rolling it gradually on a small bit of wood 

 as it comes out of the skin. Toothach is rare ; but 

 ophthalmic disorders are very common. Jaundice, 

 bilious complaints, and agues or intermittent fe- 

 vers, are of frequent occurrence, though seldom fatal. 

 At Medina, Burckhardt reckoned the mortality at 

 about 1200 deaths annually, which may be con- 

 sidered a large proportion for a population of 10,000 

 or 12,000. The plague is the most terrible scourge 

 of Arabia, though it is less destructive there than in 

 some other Eastern countries. Notwithstanding the 

 belief of the Hejazees, that the Almighty has ex- 

 cluded it from the holy territory, it made its appear- 

 ance in 1816. At Yembo, forty or fifty persons ex- 

 pired daily ; while at Jidda the proportion was as 

 high as two hundred and fifty. The Arabs seldom 

 employ medicine for it ; but, though predestinarians, 

 the common belief in Europe is erroneous, that sup- 

 poses they use no precautionary measures. Burck- 

 hardt states that many of the townsmen fled to the de- 

 sert ; alleging as an excuse, that although the distem- 

 per was a messenger from Heaven, sent to call them 

 to a better world, yet being conscious of their un- 

 worthiness, and that they did not merit this special 

 mark of grace, they thought it more advisable to 

 decline it for the present, and make their escape 

 from the town. The Yembawees have a supersti- 

 tious custom of leading a she-camel through the 

 town, covered with feathers, balls, and all sorts of 

 ornaments, after which it is slaughtered and the 

 flesh thrown to the dogs. By this process they hope 

 to get quit of the malady at once, as they imagine 



