As It Is, They Have Not A Church Fit To Say
Mass In." "A Great Pity, Too, That They Cannot Remove Our
Hospital," Would Another Exclaim; "As It Is, They Are Obliged To
Send Us Their Sick, Poor Wretches.
I always think that the sick of
Coruna have more ill-favoured countenances than those from other
places; but what good can come from Coruna?"
Accompanied by the bookseller, I visited this hospital, in which,
however, I did not remain long; the wretchedness and uncleanliness
which I observed speedily driving me away. Saint James, indeed, is
the grand lazar-house for all the rest of Galicia, which accounts
for the prodigious number of horrible objects to be seen in its
streets, who have for the most part arrived in the hope of
procuring medical assistance, which, from what I could learn, is
very scantily and inefficiently administered. Amongst these
unhappy wretches I occasionally observed the terrible leper, and
instantly fled from him with a "God help thee," as if I had been a
Jew of old. Galicia is the only province of Spain where cases of
leprosy are still frequent; a convincing proof this, that the
disease is the result of foul feeding, and an inattention to
cleanliness, as the Gallegans, with regard to the comforts of life
and civilized habits, are confessedly far behind all the other
natives of Spain.
"Besides a general hospital we have likewise a leper-house," said
the bookseller. "Shall I show it you? We have everything at Saint
James.
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