46 A VOYAGE TO Book I. 



alms in the city, only excepted. The ground on which 

 the hofpital ftands is furrounded by a wall, and has 

 only one gate^ and that always carefully guarded. 



Amidst all the inconveniences attending this dif- 

 temper, they live a long time under it^ and fome even 

 attain to an advanced age. It alfo greatly increafes 

 the natural defire of coition, and intercourfe of the 

 fexes ; fo that, to avoid the diforders which would refuk 

 from indulging this pafiion, now almofl impoflible to 

 be controuled, they are permitted to marry. 



If the leprofy be common and contagious in this 

 climate, the itch and harpes are equally fo, efpecially 

 among Europeans, who are not feafoned to the climate; 

 and, if neglected in the beginning, it is dangerous to 

 attempt a cure when cuRom has rendered them natu- 

 ,ral. The remedy againd them, in the firft ftage, is a 

 kind of earth called maquimaqui, found in the neigh- ' 

 bourhood of Carthagena, and, on the account of this 

 virtue, exported to other parts. 



Another very fmgular diftemper, though not fo 

 common, is the cobrilla, or little Inake, being, as the 

 mofb fkilful think, a tumour caufed by certain malig- 

 nant humours, fettled longitudinally between the mem- 

 brane of the fkin, and daily increafing in length, till 

 the fwelling quite furrounds the part afFe6ted, which is 

 ufually the arm, thigh, and leg; though fometimes it 

 has been known to fpread itfelf all over thefe parts. 

 The external indications of it are, a round inflamed 

 tumour, of the thicknefs of a quarter of an inch, at- 

 tended with a flight pain, but not vehement, and a 

 numbnefs of the part, which often terminates in a mor- 

 tification. The natives are very Ikilful in removing 

 it, by the following pro.cefs. They firfl: examine where 

 (according to their phrafe) the head is, to which they 

 apply a fmall fuppurative plaiflier, and gently foment 

 the whole* tumour with oil. The next day the fl<:in 

 under the plaifter is found divided, and through the 

 orifice appears a kind of white fibre^ about the flze of 



a coarfe 



