I 



28 NARRATIVEOFAN 



CHAP. Among his men I recolle£led one Gprdus, a gentle- 

 u'^y i^^'^^'s fon frona Hamburgh, in which charadier I had 

 known him, and who had been trepanned into the 

 Weft India Company's fervice by the crimps or filver- 

 coopers as a common foldier. This corps, as I have al- 

 ready faid, is compofed of all nations, Chriftians, Gentiles^ 

 and even Jews ; the latter, I muft obferve, devoured 

 pork and bacon, without fcruple or hefitation, as often 

 as they could find it. 



On this fpot, which had formerly been a plantation, 

 but was now choked with weeds, I met with fome 

 herbs which again I cannot pafs unnoticed, though I 

 have no other names for them than thofe given me by the 

 negroes, one only excepted, which is commonly known 

 by the name of the fiHqua-hirfuta, cow-edge, or cow-itch, 

 and called by the black people crajjy-weeree-weeree. I can 

 only defcribe this as a kind of pea, or rather flattilli: 

 fmall purple bean, growing in a pod from a flender creep- 

 ing vine; thefe pods are covered with a kind of fine elaflic 

 fpicula, which, when touched, caufe an intolerable itch- 

 ing. This hairy coat fcraped from the pod, and taken 

 in a tea-fpoon with jelly, &:c. has been ftrongly re- 

 commended as a vermifuge. A fort of wood was alfo 

 fhewn me here by one of the flaves, which he called. 

 craJfy-wood\ this had the fame itching efFe£l v*^hen touch- 

 ed, but with refpe6l to its general qualities I cao fay no- 

 thing further. The other Ihrubs that we found were 

 what they called confaca-weeree-weeree thefe grow 



with 



