CHAP. I.] WEST INDIES, 209 
observed, that the effect of climate is likewise ob¬ 
vious in the structure of the eye, the socket being 
considerably deeper than among the natives of Eu¬ 
rope. By this conformation, they are guarded from 
those ill effects which an almost continual strong 
glare of sun-shine might otherwise produce; and 
it is a curious circumstance, that their skin feels 
considerably colder than that of a European; a 
proof, I think, that nature has contrived some 
peculiar means of protecting them from the heat* 
which she has denied to the nations of temperate 
regions, as unnecessary. Accordingly, though their 
mode of living differs in no respect from that of 
the European residents, they are rarely obnoxious 
to those inflammatory disorders which frequently 
prove fatal to the latter. 
The ladies of these islands have indeed greater 
cause to boast of this fortunate exemption, than 
the men; a pre-eminence acquired undoubtedly by 
the calm and even tenour of their lives, and by an 
habitual temperance and self-denial. Except the 
exercise of dancing, in which they delight and ex¬ 
cel, they have no amusement or avocation to impel 
them to much exertion of either body or mind. 
Those midnight assemblies and gambling conven¬ 
tions, wherein health, fortune, and beauty, are so 
frequently sacrificed in the cities of Europe, are 
here happily unknown. In their diet, the creole 
women are, I think, abstemious even to a fault. 
Simple water, or lemonade, is the strongest beve¬ 
rage in which they indulge; and a vegetable mess 
Vol. IT. jd d 
