S j6 On the Nicobar Isles, and 



difeafes are known amongft them ; and the venereal not at all : the final! 

 pox vifitsthem occaiionally, but not of the confluent kind: what is more 

 prevalent amongft them, is the edematous (welling of one or both of the 

 legs, known in the well of India under the name of the Cochin Leg, from the 

 place where this diforder generally prevails. This endemial difeafj may be 

 imputed to the following caufes; ill chofen and badly prepared diet, the 

 bad choice of habitations, and an extremely indolent inactive life. Fevers 

 and colicks aire alfo frequent among them; when a perfon falls fick, he 

 js immediately removed to the houfe of one of their pritfts, or conjurers, 

 who orders the patient to be laid in a fupine pofture for fome time ; then 

 friction with fome oily fubftance is applied to the upper part of the body, 

 and often repeated ; which remedy they indiscriminately ufe for all com* 

 plaints, never adminiftering medicines internally,, 



The only quadrupeds on thefe iilands are hogs and dogs: of the former 

 however, only the fows are kept, and they are fed principally with the milk 

 of the cocoa nut and its kernel, which renders the meat of a firmnefs 

 and delicious tafte, even fuperior, both jn colour and flavour, to the beft 

 Mnglijh veal. It may be worthy of remark, that, although the neighbour- 

 ing Car Nicobar woods abound with monkeys of different fpecies, none 

 are to be feen in thefe iilands, notwithstanding their having been repeatedly 

 brought over : they neither propagate, nor do they live for any time, 



Among the feathered tribe wild pigeons are pretty abundant from June 

 to September, on account of a berry which is then ripe, and on which they 

 feed with great eagernefs : at the fame time pheafants. and turtle doves 

 $re frequently found, the conftant inhabitants of the woods are a fpecies of 



