208 



March 5. 



The worst of negro diseases is " the cocoa-bag:" 

 it is both hereditary and contagious, and will lurk 

 in the blood of persons apparently the most 

 healthy and of regular habits, till a certain age ; 

 when it declares itself in the form of offensive 

 sores, attended with extreme debility. No cure 

 for it has yet been discovered : there are negro 

 doctors, who understand how to prepare diet drinks 

 from simples of the island, which moderate its 

 virulence for a time ; but the disease itself is 

 never entirely subdued. On the contrary, " the 

 yaws," although it defies the power of medicine, 

 ultimately cures itself. This, also, is commu- 

 nicated by contact, and that of so slight a nature, 

 that a fly, which had touched an ulcer pro- 

 duced by the yaws, has been known to convey 

 the infection by merely alighting on the wound of 

 a cut finger. It generally shows itself by a slight 

 pimple, which is soon converted into a sore ; and 

 this spreads itself gradually over the invalid's 

 whole body, till having made its progress through 

 the system completely, its virulence gradually 

 abates, and at length the disease disappears all 

 together. As " the yaws " can only be taken 

 once, inoculation has been tried upon the most 

 hopeful subjects ; but the disease showed itself 

 with as much violence as when contracted in the 

 natural way. 



