in exactly the same manner, by the negroes of the western coast of Africa, so that this method of abstracting blood appears to be very general, and strongly attests a previous civilized condition among the ancestors of the inhabitants of this continent, as such a practice argues a greater advance in intellectual acquirement for its first introduction into use, than we are willing, ignorant as we are yet of what civilization exists in the unknown countries of intertropical Africa, to accord to the ignorant natives, with whom we are at present acquainted. I must not omit to observe, that among other external remedies, counter-irritation is a very favourite practice among the Abyssinians. Thus, in inflammations of the lungs, several small burns are made upon the chest, either with a red-hot iron rod, or a piece of burning charcoal, and this remedial process appears, and, I dare say, deservedly, to rank high as being very efficacious in the opinion of the inhabitants. In rheumatism, also, this kind of treatment, and the disease, is so common on the high table land of Shoa, that an exhibition of joints, to intimate how the patients have suffered, is sometimes most ludicrous; our inclination to laugh, such is man’s nature, not at all diminishing with increased evidences of the patient submitting to the barbarous, but still, I have no doubt, excellent remedy. Syphilis has been represented to be the curse of the land; and certainly, from King to beggar, according to their own account, they either have it, or are about to have it. Priests and their wives are not exempt, nor do even children of the tenderest age escape. The reputation of this disease is as general among the Shoans, as scrofula is in England, and it is admitted and spoken of in the same manner without any reluctance or shame. This disease is supposed by the natives to originate from several causes; among others, that of eating the flesh of fowls which have become diseased, by living in the neighbourhood of some one more than usually afflicted, and great care accordingly is taken, when purchasing fowls in the market, to learn from whence they came. The prevalent opinion also is, that it is communicable by the simplest contact, and those who are suffering from it are, therefore, carefully avoided, except by their own relations, and for years after they are quite cured, a reluctance to eat or drink with them, except with certain precautions, may be observed among those of their acquaintance who are aware of their previous condition. From these and many other observances against contagion, it may be surprising that the disease should be so general. As it struck me as being very remarkable, I made a point of examining into the subject, and have concluded that by far the greater majority of sores, and unhealthy appearances upon the body, though referred by the patients themselves to this disease, arise, in fact, from other causes, and are confounded with syphilis, sometimes, probably, from the