28 



is as yet unknown within the boundaries of Chili, 

 and lame or deformed persons are very rarely to be 

 met with.* To many of the maladies, peculiar to 

 hot countries, such as the Siam fever, the black vomit, 

 and the leprosy, its inhabitants are likewise equally 

 strangers. No instance of the hydrophobia has ever 

 occurred, and M. de la Condaminc justly observes, 

 that in South America the dogs, cats, and other 

 animals are never afflicted with madness. 



Chili produces none of those dangerous or vene- 

 mous animals which are so much dreaded in hot 

 countries ; and it has but one species of small ser^ 

 pent, which is perfectly harmless, as the French 

 Academicians ascertained when they went to Peru, in 

 1736, to measure a degree of the meridian. f The 

 lions which are sometimes met with in the thickest 



* The Creoles are generally well shaped, and there are scarce 

 any of those deformed persons, so common in other countries, to 

 be seen among them ; besides which, they almost all possess great 

 flexibility and activity of limbs. — Philosophical History^ book xi. 

 chap. 18. 



Not only the Creoles, who are descended from the Europeans, 

 but also the aborigines of the country, display equal perfection of 

 form. Some authors pretend, that the reason why none who arc 

 deformed, or cripples, are to be found among these people, is owing 

 to the savage custom which the parents have of destroying such 

 unfortunate children at their birth ; but this is a mere picture of 

 the imagination ; at least, among the Chilians no trace of so inhu- 

 man a practice has ever been discovered, as numbers who have 

 lived with them for years have positively assured me. 



t This country is not hifested by any kind of insect except the 

 chiguas, or pricker, or any poisonous reptile ; and although in thfc 

 woods and fields some snakes are to be found, their bite is by no 

 means dangerous ; nor does any savage or ferocious beast excite 

 terror in its plains. — Ulloa's Voyage^ partii. vol. 3. 



