26 EEV. ALFRED T. BRYANT. 



bark of tlie umGngndo tree ; the thorny weed inKunznna 

 (Em ex spinosa) ; and the u7nMhhezi tree, of wliose large soft 

 root a piece as large as a child's fist is pounded finely and 

 cooked as porridge, the action being purgative. 



The more poAverful purgatives as croton oil, jalap and the 

 like are much esteemed by the natives. There are at least 

 two species of Croton indigenous to Natal — Croton 

 gratis si mum and C. sylvaticum. Both are called 

 uMahlahehufem by the natives, though the last-named- 

 species is more generally known as ^vmZ^lany<)ni, i. e. the 

 tree abstained from by birds, owing to its orange- coloured 

 berries being severely avoided by these latter, to whom they 

 are said to be fatally poisonous. The valuable medicinal 

 properties, both as cathartic and as eruptive irritant, of these 

 crotons are well known to the Zulu doctors, affording once 

 ag-ain undeniable evidence of the oftentimes accurate know- 

 ledge and extensive botanical investigations of these people. 

 When employed as a purgative — generally when severe 

 abdominal disorder of an indefinite nature is present — a 

 piece of the bark, half as large as one's thumb, is pulverised 

 in half a cupful of milk or broth, and the mixture drunk. 



The true jalap plant, of course, does not exist in South 

 Africa, but there is an allied indigenous plant possessing 

 similar powers, though, I think, in an inferior degree. This 

 is the Ipomcea purpurea, a convolvulus-like climber 

 common in the coast bush. Certain is it that it had no native 

 name prior to the advent of the white man ; but this alone is not 

 sufficient proof that its purging powers were not well known. 



At the present time it is one of their favourite remedies, 

 and is universally known as iJalamhhu or iJalmmi (a corrup- 

 tion of the English word " jalap.") It is the tuberous root 

 of the Mexican species that is officially used, but of the 

 Natal species it is the stalks, the roots being merely insignifi- 

 cant fibres. Another species of Ipomcea is also used as a 

 purgative for a generally disordered stomach, and its powers 

 seem to about equal those of the former variety. It is 

 the iiniKhohha velilaflii (Ipomoea ficifolia), a double 



