434 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
phantiasis. We examined several persons suf¬ 
fering under it. The lepers described the com¬ 
plaint as commencing with a white spot gene¬ 
rally on their thighs or arms. The chief seats 
of the disorder are the hands and fingers, and 
the feet and toes; but other parts of the body 
are not exempt, and it occasionally attacks the 
bones of the nose. The parts affected have a livid 
look and a mottled appearance, produced by the 
cicatrices of the nose. When it attacks the 
fingers and toes, it destroys the joints and nails, 
and distorts them. The open sores are not nu¬ 
merous, are generally superficial, and, upon'the 
whole, the appearance of the patients, in ordi¬ 
nary cases, is by no means so offensive as might 
be expected; nor was there any thing disagree¬ 
able in their residence to distinguish it from an 
ordinary village. The affected part, from the 
description of the lepers themselves, seems to 
be nearly dead and insensible. They stated 
they had no pain when not obliged to move, 
and that their rest was not disturbed. The dis¬ 
order probably does not much contribute to 
shorten life, for I have often seen very old per¬ 
sons labouring under it. One of those whom 
we examined to-day was a woman, apparently 
seventy, a captive brought from Aracan, and 
she said that the disorder broke out when she 
