189 



copious perspiration, expose themselves to the 

 fine rains, that frequently fall toward the even- 

 ing. Nevertheless the men of colour, and par- 

 ticularly the Creole Negroes, resist much bet- 

 ter than any other race the influence of the cli- 

 mate. Lemonade and infusions of scoparia dul- 

 cis are given to the sick ; but the cuspare, 

 which is the cinchona of Angustura, is seldom 

 used. 



It is generally observed, that in these epide- 

 mics of the town of Cariaco the mortality is 

 less considerable than might be supposed. In- 

 termitting fevers, wiien they attack the same 

 individual during several successive years, al- 

 ter and weaken the constitution ; but this state 

 of debility, so common on the unhealthy coasts, 

 does not cause death. What is remarkable 

 enough is the belief, that prevails here as in the 

 Campagna di Roma, that the air is become 

 progressively more vitiated, as a greater num- 

 ber of acres have been cultivated. The mias- 

 mata, which these plains exhale, have however 

 nothing in common with those, which arise 

 from a forest when the trees are cut down, and 

 the sun heats a thick layer of dead leaves. 

 Near Cariaco the country is naked, and little 

 woody. Can it be supposed, that the mould * 



* If this action be noxious, it certainly does not consist 

 solely in that process of disoxydation, which I have demon- 



