To Which The Indian Reply'd,
He Could Not Bite Him Now, Nor Do Him Any Harm; For He Had Taken Out
His Poison-Teeth, And Shew'd Him, That They Were Gone.
At last,
with much Persuasion, he admitted the Snake's Company, which the Indian
put about his Middle, and order'd
Nobody to take him away upon any account,
which was strictly observ'd, although the Snake girded him as hard
for a great while, as if he had been drawn in by a Belt, which one pull'd at,
with all his strength. At last, the Snake's Twitches grew weaker and weaker,
till, by degrees, he felt him not; and opening the Bed, he was found dead,
and the Man thought himself better. The Indian came in the Morning,
and seeing the Snake dead, told the Man, that his Distemper was dead
along with that Snake, which prov'd so as he said; for the Man
speedily recover'd his Health, and became perfectly well.
{Spleen how cure.}
They cure the Spleen (which they are much addicted to) by burning with a Reed.
They lay the Patient on his Back, so put a hollow Cane into the Fire,
where they burn the End thereof, till it is very hot, and on Fire at the end.
Then they lay a Piece of thin Leather on the Patient's Belly,
between the Pit of the Stomach and the Navel, so press the hot Reed
on the Leather, which burns the Patient so that you may ever after see
the Impression of the Reed where it was laid on, which Mark never goes off
so long as he lives. This is used for the Belly-Ach sometimes.
{Colouring of the Hair.} They can colour their Hair black,
though sometimes it is reddish, which they do with the Seed of a Flower
that grows commonly in their Plantations. I believe this would change
the reddest Hair into perfect black. {Not many Tears, Rozins.}
They make use of no Minerals in their Physick, and not much of Animals;
but chiefly rely on Vegetables. They have several Remedies for the Tooth-ach,
which often drive away the Pain; but if they fail, they have Recourse
to punching out the Tooth, with a small Cane set against the same,
on a Bit of Leather. Then they strike the Reed, and so drive out the Tooth;
and howsoever it may seem to the Europeans, I prefer it before
the common way of drawing Teeth by those Instruments than endanger the Jaw,
and a Flux of Blood often follows, which this Method of a Punch
never is attended withal; neither is it half the Pain.
The Spontaneous Plants of America the Savages are well acquainted withal;
and a Flux of Blood never follows any of their Operations.
They are wholly Strangers to Amputation, and for what natural Issues of Blood
happen immoderately, they are not to seek for a certain and speedy Cure.
Tears, Rozins, and Gums, I have not discover'd that they make much use of;
And as for Purging and Emeticks, so much in fashion with us,
they never apply themselves to, {Yaupon.} unless in drinking
vast Quantities of their Yaupon or Tea, and vomiting it up again,
as clear as they drink it. This is a Custom amongst all those
that can procure that Plant, in which manner they take it every other Morning,
or oftner; by which Method they keep their Stomachs clean,
without pricking the Coats, and straining Nature, as every Purge
is an Enemy to. Besides, the great Diuretick Quality of their Tea
carries off a great deal, that perhaps might prejudice their Health,
by Agues, and Fevers, which all watry Countries are addicted to;
for which reason, I believe, it is, that the Indians are not so much
addicted to that Distemper, as we are, they preventing its seizing upon them,
by this Plant alone. Moreover, I have remark'd, that it is only those Places
bordering on the Ocean and great Rivers, that this Distemper is frequent in,
and only on and near the same Places this Evergreen is to be found;
and none up towards the Mountains, where these Agues seldom or never appear;
Nature having provided suitable Remedies, in all Countries,
proper for the Maladies that are common thereto. The Savages of Carolina
have this Tea in Veneration, above all the Plants they are acquainted withal,
and tell you, the Discovery thereof was by an infirm Indian,
that labour'd under the Burden of many rugged Distempers,
and could not be cured by all their Doctors; so, one day,
he fell asleep, and dreamt, that if he took a Decoction of the Tree
that grew at his Head, he would certainly be cured; upon which he awoke,
and saw the Yaupon or Cassena-Tree, which was not there
when he fell asleep. He follow'd the Direction of his Dream,
and became perfectly well in a short time. Now, I suppose,
no Man has so little Sense as to believe this Fable; yet it lets us see
what they intend thereby, and that it has, doubtless, work'd Feats enough,
to gain it such an Esteem amongst these Savages, who are too well versed
in Vegetables, to be brought to a continual use of any one of them,
upon a meer Conceit or Fancy, without some apparent Benefit
they found thereby; especially, when we are sensible,
they drink the Juices of Plants, to free Nature of her Burdens,
and not out of Foppery and Fashion, as other Nations are oftentimes
found to do. Amongst all the Discoveries of America,
by the Missionaries of the French and Spaniards, I wonder none of them
was so kind to the World, as to have kept a Catalogue of the Distempers
they found the Savages capable of curing, and their Method of Cure;
which might have been of some Advantage to our Materia Medica at home,
when deliver'd by Men of Learning, and other Qualifications,
as most of them are. Authors generally tell us, that the Savages
are well enough acquainted with those Plants which their Climate affords,
and that some of them effect great Cures, but by what Means,
and in what Form, we are left in the dark.
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