ZULU MEDICINE AND MEDICINE-MEN. 49 



A youth, suspecting his girl of faithlessness, will procure 

 an iBhucio (Bulbine natalensis) plant and make an 

 infusion, mixing therein a quantity of selected, magical, 

 animal powders. He will drink the mixture, and it acts as a 

 sedative diuretic. The "evil" properties of the iBhucu and 

 the various animal powders are then supposed to infect the 

 girl after intercourse without injuring her, but they are sub- 

 sequently absorbed into the bladder of the rival youth. 



On becoming aware that he has contracted the disease, his 

 first endeavour is to discover which particular iQondo poison 

 (for there are several) may have been used in his own 

 instance. Having made this discovery (perhaps by the aid of 

 a witch doctor), he physics himself with the same plant to 

 brftig about a cure. In the case of the iBhucu the slimy juice 

 from a few of the thick soft leaves is squeezed into water and 

 drunk. 



The next thing the native doctor might advise him to do 

 would be to apply over the bladder, having first anointed the 

 skin with oil or fat, a poultice made of the leaf-paste of the 

 umDhmzo (Mikania capensis), the umSintsi (Erythrina 

 caffra), the nZipho or iKhamhhi leziduli (Cardiospermum 

 halicacabum) and the uXhcvpJiozi (Ranunculus pin- 

 na t us), all of which are caustic in their action, working, 

 probably, like mustard, as a counter-irritant. The plaster is 

 allowed to remain until it becomes unpleasantly hot for the 

 patient, which is said to be in about an hour's time. The last 

 two plants, being particularly caustic, should be applied only 

 in a small quantity. 



A handful of the roots of the big-leafed uLimilirenkomo or 

 (N) uLimilicenijathl (Berkheya sp.) is sometimes boiled in 

 a cupful of water and drunk. Others take half-a-dozen of the 

 small roots of the isiThumana (Solanum capense) of the 

 termite nests, pound and boil them well in a pint of milk, and 

 drink a tablespoonful of the decoction three times a day. 



Should, however, more drastic measures be imperative, the 

 doctor thrusts a small hollow reed through the penis into the 

 bladder, and blows into the latter a pinch of the pulverised 

 VOL. 2, PART 1. 4 



