They place implicit faith in the efficacy of a talisman, which they call _gris-gris_: they wear it round their neck, at their waist, and on their legs and arms. Each has its particular virtue: one preserves them from bullets; another from poison; and when a man has been killed, burnt, or drowned, they say, that his gris-gris was not so efficacious as that of his enemy. They are, however, persuaded that the gris-gris can do nothing against cannon. These talismans are made of goat skins, with the hair on, or of morocco leather; and they are of different sizes, from one to three inches; they are filled with a kind of powder, and with scraps of certain sentences of the alkoran in the Arabic. The priests, or marabous, have the exclusive privilege of preparing and selling them. These people all follow the trade of divines or augurs: their testimony is, in the eyes of the people, evidence itself; they pry into futurity, discover thieves and adulterers, perform miracles; in short, all the actions of the credulous people are submitted to their influence. Amongst savage nations the practice of physic is generally added to that of divination or sorcery. In these countries, however, it is otherwise; for the old women here cure diseases, and fulfil their task with great zeal and astonishing success, particularly in cases of wounds: they employ simple herbs, which abound in the fields and woods. The most common diseases are hydrocele and intermittent fevers: the latter they infallibly cure by simple remedies; the former is supposed to arise from the excessive use of palm wine amongst the natives, whose constitution is particularly voluptuous. Venereal diseases are also very common; but they are never attended with those dreadful symptoms which appear in Europe. The natives will not believe that they can acquire this disease by a connection with an unclean individual: it is easily cured by simples and sudorifics. The small-pox is endemic, but is more rare on the coasts than in the country. Foreigners who come here are subject to other diseases, the most fatal of which is dysentery. They have remedies for these attacks; but the method of preventing them is, to preserve a medium between excess and privation.