46 KEY. ALFRED T. BRYANT. 



attended with quite astonishing- success. The peppery bark 

 of the isiBhaha tree, the veld-herb islHlazi, or any other of 

 the ah-eady-mentioned emetics, enemas, and purgatives 

 found growing in their districts would be their usual plant 

 specifics. 



Whether enteric fever was or was not an aboriginal disease 

 of the African races, it is certainly met with on rare occasions 

 nowadays in the kraals. One of the chief specifics of the 

 natives for this, or perhaps any similarly eruptive fever, is thp 

 poisonous itQwengu or (N) iLozane (Tephrosia macro- 

 poda). The root is first externally charred on the fire — a 

 process said to reduce the strength of the poisonous principle. 

 The unburnt central portion is then ground to a powder, of 

 which a pinch of 5 to 10 gr. is taken, mixed with a like 

 quantity of the inner root-bai-k of the tnKunzi or iBJiPJa 

 (Bopusia scabra) herb and a little liquid fat or oil. 



In the case of eruptive fever, like smallpox and measles, 

 the eruption is mistaken for the disease and is consequently 

 the main object of treatment. Needless to say, not much 

 benefit can accrue from such methods, although, in the case of 

 smallpox, the disfigurement may be somewhat lessened. For 

 this latter the dry roots of the inKunzi or iBheja herb, 

 together -with those of the medicinal isiDiHli (Lasiosiphon 

 sp.) are pulverised and mixed into a paste with Avetted 

 termite earth and plastered over the body. For measles, 

 urticaria and other rashes, a common specific is the inKokhane 

 climber, of whose crushed leaves a hot infusion is made and 

 used as a lotion twice a day, a cupful of the medicine being 

 also drunk. The ground roots of the isaMuyisane (Spernia- 

 coce natalensis) mixed with termite earth are also smeared 

 over the seat of the outbreak. The bark of the umHIam- 

 hhamanzi (Eauwolfia natalensis) and the leaves of the 

 nmSnzwane (Lippia asperifolia) are other cures. For any 

 of the ordinary body rashes, a double-handful of the leaves 

 of the uMaliolwana (Ipomoea palm at a) is crushed in a 

 cupful of cold water and the whole drunk. 



