EXPEDITION
TO
SURINAM.
275
toes become putrid,..and drop away joint after joint. The CHAP. XXVI. worst of which is, that though the difeafe is hopelefs, the unhappy sufferer may linger fometimes for many years. The lepers are naturally lafcivious, and the difeafe being infectious, they are of necessity feparated from all fociety, and condemned to a perpetual exile in some remote corner of the plantations. The clabba-yaws, or tubboes, is also a very troublefome and tedious diforder ; it occafions painful fores about the feet, mostly in the soles, between the skin and the flesh. The usual remedy in this cafe is, to burn out the morbid part with a red-hot iron, or cut it out with a lancet; and then the warm juice of roasted limes is introduced into the wound, though with great pain yet with great fuccefs. The African negroes are alfo subject to many fpecies of worms, both extraneous and internal, owing to the wading much in stagnated waters, and to the crudity of their diet. Of the former fpecies is the Guinea or tapeworm, which breeds between the fkin and the flesh, and is fometimes two yards in length, of a shining silvery colour, and not thicker than the fecond firing of a bafsviol. It occafions dangerous and painful fwellings whereever it inferts itfelf, which is mostly about the legs. The method of cure, is to feize the head of the worm when it appears above the fkin, and extract it by winding it gently round a flick or card; this operation cannot be performed with too much caution, for if it breaks, the Nn 2 loss