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HISTORY OF SETTLEMENTS AND TRADE
K from whom they exped the moft dreadful punifh-
ments. A fpecies of food, new to them, and dif-
agreeable in itfelf, difgufts them in their paffage. At
their arrival in the iflands, the provifions that are di-
ftributed to them, are neither good in quality, no*
fufficient to fupport them. The caffava, which is
particularly allotted to them, is very dangerous in
itfelf. The animals who eat of it are rapidly de-
ftroyed, though, by a contradidion which is often
found in nature, they are very fond of it. If this
root doth not produce fuch fatal effeds among man-
kind, it is becaufe they do not make ufe of it till
all its poifon hath been extraded by preparation.
But with what negligence muft not thefe prepara-
tions be  made, when flaves only are the objed of
them?                             .                                   .
Art hath for a long time been employed in en-
deavouring to find out fome remedy againft this dif-
order in the ftomach. It has been found, after fe-
veral experiments, that nothing was more falutary
than to give the blacks who were attacked with it
three ounces of the juice of a fpecies of colocynth,
with almoft a fimilar dofe of a kind of orade, known
in the iflands by the name oi7 jargon. This drink is
preceded by a purgative, which confifts of half a
drachm of gumbooge diluted in milk, or in honey-
wafer
The yaws, which is the fécond diforder peculiar
to Negroes, and which accompanies them from Africa
to America, is contraded in the birth, or by commu-
nication between the foxes. No âge is free from it ;
but it more particularly attacks at the periods of in-
fancy and youth. Old people have feldom ftrength
fufficient to fupport the long and violent treatment
which it requires.                       .   ».; -      .
There are faid to be four fpecies of yaws. I at
yaws with pullules, large and fmall, as in the fmall-
pox ; that which refembles lentils ; and laftly the red
yaws, which is the moft dangerous of all.
The yaws attack every part of the body, but more