48 TRAVELS IN 
their legs and the weight of their bodleg^ 
which obHges our children to hang upon 
thefe too ojfficious fupporters^ often lames 
them, at leaft . ruins their health and disfi- 
gures them during the remainder of their 
days. 
Never did I, either in America or Africa, 
meet with a lame or deformed perfon among 
the favages : to find thefe one muft travel in 
Europe. 
What ftill contributes to give the children 
of favages that agility and ftrength by which 
they are diftinguifhed, is the care taken by 
their mothers to rub their bodies with mutton 
greafe. The men themfelves think it necef* 
fary to ufe this precaution, which reftores 
to the fkin that pliablenefs which the impe- 
tuofity of the winds and the heat of the fun 
take from it. 
Lefs favoured by the produftions of the 
African climates than the Caribs are by 
thofe of America, the Hottentot does not, 
like the latter, enjoy the benefit of the 
rocou^ which renders them a very effential 
fervlce. It is well known that this tree pro- 
duces a kind of fruit or pod which divides 
itfelf into two parts, and £heds about fixty 
grains, 
