274 NARRATIVE OF AN 



CHAP. This, in frequent inffcances, has driven them to diftrac- 

 XXVI 



^ „ ^ , tion, and been the caufe of many murders. 



It is in confequence of thefe complicated evils, that fo 

 many alfo deftroy themfelves by fuicide, run away to the 

 woods to join their countrymen in rebellion, or if they 

 flay, grow fad and fpiritlefs, and languilli under difeafes, 

 the efFedls of bad ufage; fuch as the lota^ which is a white 

 fcorbutic fpot that externally covers the body. The crajfy- 

 crajjy, or itch, which with us comes from poornefs of 

 diet, is of courfe very common with them. The yaws^ a 

 moft difagreeable diforder, by many compared to the ve- 

 nereal difeafe, which renders the patient a fhocking fpec- 

 tacle, all covered over with yellow ulcers. To this laft- 

 mentioned loathfome malady moft negroes are fubjedf, 

 yet but only once in their lives, in which, and being very 

 infectious, it refembles the fmall-pox: indeed if a fly 

 which has been feeding upon the difeafed (and they are 

 generally covered with them) lights upon the llighteft 

 fcratch on a healthy perfon, it communicates this dread- 

 ful diforder, which always confines him for feveral 

 months. The moft general cure for the yaws in Suri- 

 nam, is falivation and fpare diet, with continual exercife 

 to promote perfpi ration ; and, during this procefs, the 

 poor wretches abfolutely look like decayed carcafes. 



Still more dreadful is the boajfy^ or leprofy, which is 

 deemed incurable : the face and limbs in this cqmplaint 

 fwell, and the whole body is covered with fcales and ul- 

 cers ; the breath ftinks, the hair falls off, the fingers and 



toes 



