101 



than air*, would no doubt become flourishing 

 towns, if the Oroonoko afforded planters the 

 same advantages for the exchange of produce, as 

 the Ohio and the Lower Missisippi. The abun- 

 dance of venomous insects slackens, but does 

 not stop entirely the progress of population ; it 

 prevents the whites from settling only in those 

 places, where the commercial and political state 

 of the country promise no real advantages. 



I have indicated in another part of this work 

 the curious fact, that the whites born in the tor- 

 rid zone walk barefoot with impunity, in the 

 same apartment where a European recently 

 landed is exposed to the attack of the niguas or 

 chegoes (pulex penetrans). These animals, al- 

 most invisible to the eye, get under the nails of 

 the feet, and there acquire the size of a small 

 pea by the quick increase of it's eggs, which 

 are placed in a bag under the belly of the insect. 

 The nigua therefore distinguishes what the most 

 delicate chemical analysis could not distinguish, 

 the cellular membrane and blood of a Euro- 

 pean from those of a Creole white. It is not so 

 with the moschettoes. These insects, whatever 

 may be said on the coast of South America, 

 attack equally the natives and the Europeans ; 

 it is only the effects of the sting, that are dif- 

 ferent in the two races of men. The same veno- 



Mas moscos que ayre. 



