A voyage to Senegal : $b or, Historical, philosophical, and political memoirs, relative to the discoveries, establishments and commerce of Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Blanco to the river of Sierra LeoneDurand, Jean Baptiste Léonard
History
A voyage to Senegal : $b or, Historical, philosophical, and political memoirs, relative to the discoveries, establishments and commerce of Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Blanco to the river of Sierra Leone
Durand, Jean Baptiste Léonard
Africa, Northwest; Senegal -- Description and travel
The most common diseases of the Moors are intermittent fevers
and dysenteries, which are speedily cured by sudorifics, a few
simple syrups, and a mild diet. Indeed, the patients often abandon
themselves to the sole aid of nature, and quickly recover. The Moors
have no physicians, and the old women are employed in taking care
of the sick. There may be seen amongst them a great number of old
men, who enjoy full health and vigour, though their whole time has
been passed in continual exertions, and under all the fatigues and
privations inseparable from their mode of life. It has, however,
been remarked, that the less they have been connected with Europeans,
the less have they been liable to infirmity and disease; because
while they remained in their frugal and simple mode of life, their
constitution was not affected by strong drinks or high-seasoned food.
The small-pox makes from time to time great ravages amongst the
Moors, from whom it passes amongst the southern Negroes: those of
the Senegal and the Gambia practise inoculation. At length the
Moors, after a long career, come, like other men, to the end of
their existence, and receive the last duties of their family and the
whole of their horde. Amongst them a death is announced by terrible
cries, and the women are employed to make the notification. On this
occasion, all those belonging to an encampmant repair to the tent
of the deceased, where some cry, and others sing his praises. Very
often they change parts; so that the women cry, laugh, and sing
alternately. Afterwards the body is washed, dressed, and carried
to an elevated spot, where it is placed in a grave with the face
turned towards the east, and the head rather raised. They cover
the grave with stones, to secure the corpse from the attacks of
certain carnivorous animals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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