352 NARRATIVEOFAN 



CHAP, of US : as for myfelf, I had the leaft caufe to complain, be- 

 , \ _• . ing well attended by Joanna and my fervants, who the 

 next day all arrived from Egmond at the Hope, befides 

 receiving prefents, which were as ufual feat me from all 

 quarters. One additional inconvenience 1 however felt — 

 my feet were infefted with chigoes, which 1 partly im- 

 pute to having, during my illnefs, worn llockings and 

 flioes while at the good Frenchman's eftate Egmond. 

 Of this troublefome infe£l 1 have already made fome 

 mention, as being extremely numerous at Devil's Harwar, 

 but now fliall circumflantially defcribe it. 



The chigoe is a kind of fmall fand-flea, that gets in 

 between the fkin and the flefli without its being felt, 

 and generally under the nails of the toes ; where, while 

 it feeds, it keeps growing till it becomes the lize of a 

 large pea, caufing no further pain than a difagreeable 

 itching ; in procefs of time it appears in the form of a 

 fmall bladder, in which are depofited thoufands of eggs 

 or nits, and which, if it breaks, produce fo many young 

 chigoes, that in courfe of time create running ulcers, 

 which are often of very dangerous confequence to the 

 patient : fo much fo, indeed, that I have known a fol- 

 dier, the foles of whofe feet were obliged to be cut away 

 with a razor, before he could recover; and fome men 

 bave loft their limbs by amputation- — nay even their 

 lives, by having neglected in tinic to root out thefe abo- 

 minable vermin. The moment, therefore, that one per- 

 ceives a kind of itchipg and rednefs more than ufual 



about 



