590 The Andes and the Amazons. 



of symptoms. And probably this is nioi-e to be noticed 

 among the Anglo-Saxon element and his " cousin" of the 

 United States than among the Latin descendants, on ac- 

 count of previous robust health and power of resistance to 

 the usual causes of depression.* The Latin bends easily 

 to the storm, but lives along, apparently, better in this 

 depressed condition than the Englishman, who breaks up 

 more hurriedly after he has once experienced severe dis- 

 ease : yet on his recovery he is more restored to his former 

 condition than the Latin under equal circumstances. 



8kin Diseases are entitled to rank first, not only from 

 their frequency, but also from the obstinate character of 

 their duration. They are grouped together by the people 

 under the general name of Sarna, which includes every 

 form of discoloration as well as eruption. These affec- 

 tions of the skin are due not only to the excessive labor of 

 transpirg,tion required of the porous surface of the body, 

 which after a while debilitates it, and produces an obscure 

 irritation, leading to indolent ulcerations or eruptions ; biit 

 they are also the irritations arising from the bites of myr- 

 iads of insects which infest earth, air, and water. Among 

 the natives, pure and mestizo, one will see the whole ex- 

 posed surface of the body pitted with inflamed bites, to 

 remedy which they use vegetable dyes, which go under 

 the general name of Huito, generally of a bluish-black or 

 reddish color. These dyes, besides stopping the pores of 

 the skin, are themselves irritating. It is, however, noticed 



* It has long ago been observed that the foreigner stands tropical heats for 

 a while better than the native ; but that in the long run there is a progressive 

 descent downward. Statistics of a governor of Cayenne, in 1742, give the 

 following mortality during his administration of that colony for a period of 

 nine years ; Proportion in one thousand colonists — First year, 15 ; second, 

 19; third, 42; fourth, 21; fifth, 60; sixth, 75; seventh, 82; eighth, 102; 

 ninth, 125. In many cases allowance has to be made, however, for the 

 character of the colonists, who are frequently the bad and abandoned, mor- 

 ally as well as physically. 



