m the plain bringing with it germs of infection.
It is extremely seldom that a woman dies in child-birth, but a great
many succumb to senile decay at about 60 years of age.

Both men and women are very subject to a cutaneous disease which covers
the body with large blotches of a lighter colour than their skin, giving
a repugnant appearance to the poor wretch so afflicted. But it is
neither a serious nor a contagious illness, nor does it excite amongst
the jungle-dwellers that loathing which it would with us because this
discoloration does not prevent them from getting married and having
children as healthy as other peoples'.

Sometimes one of them is struck down by an infectious disease for which
they know no remedy or cure. The sick person is at once isolated from
all the rest and is almost entirely abandoned in order to check any
propagation of the malady.

I have never noticed any illness which might be considered as peculiar
to the people themselves or the region they inhabit but I have been able
to establish the fact (from a special study made by me as to the causes
of death among the Sakais) that the victims of wild beasts and serpents
are on a very low average.

It is quite an extraordinary thing for anybody to lose their life in
this way if they have not by some imprudence brought death upon
themselves.

I only remember, perhaps because it took place not long ago, that a
young woman incautiously wandered away from her hut one evening, as it
was getting dark, and was attacked by a panther which fastened its teeth
into her lower jaw. Hearing her scream the husband rushed out just in
time to kill the animal and save his poor wife's life, but she, of
course, remained deformed.

* * * * *

The pharmacopoeia of these foresters, freed from all superstition, is of
truly primitive simplicity and only contains vegetable remedies. A
decoction of the root _tenak celes_ is an excellent purgative. A
poultice made of its leaves pounded with lime and _sirih_ and applied to
the forehead is intended to cure headache.

The _sla delok_ (a bitter leaf) serves in the place of our worm powders
for children.

Another leaf (the _sla poo_) is used for curing dysentry.

They have also several other medicines (whose virtues are kept secret by
the _Ala_) for complaints of the stomach or that may be used at will
without any precise knowledge of the illness needing treatment.

The gum extracted fro