102 



mous liquid, deposited in the skin of a copper- 

 coloured man of Indian race, and in that of a 

 white man newly landed, causes no swelling to 

 the former, while on the latter it produces hard 

 blisters, greatly inflamed, and painful for seve- 

 ral days ; so different is the action of the der- 

 moid system, according to the degree of irritabi- 

 lity of the organs in different races, and differ- 

 ent individuals ! 



I shall here recite several facts, which prove 

 incontestibly, that the Indians, and in general 

 all the people of colour, at the moment of being 

 stung, suffer like the whites, although perhaps 

 with less intensity of pain. In the day, even 

 when labouring at the oar, the natives, in order 

 to chase the insects, are continually giving one 

 another smart slaps with the palm of the hand. 

 Rude in all their movements, they strike them- 

 selves and their comrades mechanically during 

 their sleep. The violence of their blows reminds 

 us of the Persian tale * of the bear, that tried to 

 kill with his paw the insects on the forehead of 

 his sleeping master. Near Maypures we saw 

 some young Indians seated in a circle and rub- 

 bing cruelly each others backs with the bark of 

 trees dried at the fire. Indian women were oc- 

 cupied with a degree of patience, of which the 

 copper-coloured race alone are capable, in extir- 



* Anvari Soheily, book i, p. 64 (Calcutta, 1815). 



