TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



165 



drinking water to appease the almost insatiable 

 thirst : we were advised to drink the water mixed 

 with wine or brandy, but though we used this be- 

 verage with advantage, when we took little exer- 

 cise, and kept in the shade, yet the violent tend- 

 ency of the blood towards the head, during the 

 journey, when we were very much exposed to the 

 sun, particularly in the first year, soon obliged us 

 to renounce all spirituous liquors ; we therefore 

 refreshed ourselves with the cool water of the 

 stream without any addition, from which we never 

 experienced any disagreeable effects, if we imme- 

 diately again exposed ourselves to the heat. These 

 remarks on regimen we cannot sufficiently recom- 

 mend to the attention of travellers. 



The diseases most frequent here, are chronical 

 diarrhoeas, dropsy, intermitting fevers, syphilis, 

 and hydrocele ; of all these, perhaps only the last 

 can be considered as endemic and peculiar to the 

 city. The physicians ascribe this disorder chiefly 

 to the drinking of the water 5 but this, which is a 

 fine spring water, rendered, it is true, warm and 

 less agreeable by passing through so long a chan- 

 nel, or by the effect of the sun's heat while it is 

 exposed to sale, can with the less reason be con- 

 sidered as the cause, as among the higher classes, 

 where the disease is the most frequent, it is almost 

 always improved by the addition of spirits. It 

 rather should seem that imprudent and too thin 

 clothing, getting violently over-heated and thea 



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