140 STUPIDITY AND CREDULITY 



red this morning in the case of one of the Kroo- 

 men. Dracunculus, or Guinea-worm, is a very 

 prevalent disease in Western Africa ; and every 

 trifling degree of inflammation of the skin, such 

 as a boil, is considered by them as the Guinea- 

 worm. An instance occurred in the person of the 

 Krooman named Straw Hat. He had had a boil 

 on the upper part of the foot, and supposing it 

 to be the Guinea-worm, he applied some escharo- 

 tic herbs to it, which inflamed it and produced 

 excessive sloughing of the tendons. On the 

 ligaments of the toe becoming exposed, the 

 man passed a piece of strong black thread 

 round two of them (supposing the other to be 

 a worm coiled up) near the instep, and then 

 secured a piece of lead on the outside, for 

 the purpose, as he said, of dragging away the 

 worm. This morning I insisted on seeing it, 

 and found that several inches of tendon had 

 actually come away. In order to convince him 

 of his error, I procured a fowl's foot, and by 

 pulling the back tendon, brought the other into 

 action : I then dissected the front part of the 

 foot, and exposed all the ligaments. 



After this explanation. Straw Hat seemed 

 much pleased, and said, " White doctor savy 



