[A12] XXII.—­On the Bark given to the Sick.

The bark, which began to be administered at that time, had been damaged, but an attempt was made to supply the want of it by the bark which the negroes use to cure the dysentery, and which they bring from the environs of Rufisque.  This bark, of which they made a secret, seems to come from some terebinthine plant, and perhaps, from the monbins, which are common on this part of the coast.  In the winter fevers which prevail at Goree, Cape Verd, &c. two methods of cure were employed which had different effects.  These fevers were often attended with cholic, spasms in the stomach, and diarrhea.  The first method consisted in vomitting, purging, and then administering the bark, to which musk was sometimes added, when the disorder grew worse.  In this case, when the disease did not end in death, the fever was often succeeded by dysentery, or those who believed themselves cured, were subject to relapses.  The second method, which Doctor Bergeron employed with more success, was opposite to the former; he vomited the patients but little, or not at all, endeavouring to calm the symptoms, to strengthen the patient by bitters, and at the last, he administered the bark.[A13]

The Negroes who, like all other people, have a materia medica, and pharmacopeia of their own, and who at this season, are subject to the same disorders as the Europeans, have recourse at the very beginning, to a more heroic remedy, and such of our soldiers encamped at Daccard, as made use of it, in general found benefit from it.  The Priest or Marabous, who often offered them the assistance of his art, made them take a large glass of rum-punch, very warm, with a slight infusion of cayenne pepper.  An extraordinary perspiration generally terminated this fit.  The patient then avoided, for some days, walking in the sun, and eat a small quantity of roasted fish and cous-cous, mixed with a sufficient quantity of cassia leaves of different species, to operate as a gentle purgative.  In order to keep up the perspiration, or according to the Negro Doctor, to strengthen the skin, he applied from time to time, warm lotions of the leaves of the palma christi, and of cassia, (casse puante.) The use of rum, which is condemned by the Mahometan religion, and is a production foreign to this country, gives reason to suppose that the remedy is of modern date, among the Negroes.

[A13] It is to be observed that the author, in these two passages, uses the word Kina or Peruvian bark—­T.

[A14] XXIII.—­On the Isle of St. Louis.

St. Louis is a bank of scorching sand, without drinkable water or verdure, with a few tolerable houses towards the South, and a great number of low smoky straw huts, which, occupy almost all the North part.  The houses are of brick, made of a salt clay, (argile salee) which the wind reduces to powder, unless they are carefully covered with a layer of chalk or lime, which it is difficult to procure, and the dazzling whiteness of which injures the eyes.