ZULU MEDICINE AND MEDICINE-.AIEN. 53 



Ini potency and Barjrenness. 



With all primitive peoples, all that pertains to the sexual 

 functions, involving as it does the propagation of the species 

 and the preservation of the tribe, is a matter of paramount 

 importance. Impotency on either side is with them more than 

 a disgrace, it is a calamity. Should the male organs fail 

 altogether to produce the seminal fluid, the roots of the 

 imPindisa (Rubia cordifolia) are boiled and drunk at 

 bedtime, resulting in an early emission. A hot milk infusion 

 of the roots of the uQontsi (Eriosema cor datum and E. 

 s align um) herb has a similar effect. Or the powdered root 

 of the iHlainvu (Clloriosa virescens) may be drunk in 

 whey. The pulverised root of the amaryllid nllahlokoloza 

 is sometimes blown through the urethra. 



Should the seminal dischai-ge be present, but lack vitality 

 and fail to produce conception, a prize specific is the creeper 

 uNgihonisele, of whose roots a hot infusion is drunk by both 

 husband and wife. It is, however, imperative to success that 

 the latter be quite unaware of the husband^s having also 

 drugged himself with the medicine. 



The roots of the iBhuma bulrush (Cyperus sp.), along 

 with those of the iQwaningi (Capparis cory mbifera), 

 furnish another remedy ; and the uBangalala herb enjoys a 

 particularly high reputation, one of its roots being boiled in 

 milk and a little of the decoction drunk from time to time ; as 

 does also the veld-herb tiNjalwana or iKhamhhi lesi/patsholo, 

 whose roots and leaves are boiled and a small quantity of the 

 decoction drunk three or four times daily for a few days. In 

 a word, almost anything calculated to produce irritation of 

 the sexual organs is greedily availed of as a means to remedy 

 impotency. The imBliahazcme, or common stinging-nettle, 

 the umHhcazimavihJia, another nettle-like creeper, the roots 

 of the herb amaQate or (N) uBhusha are all called upon to 

 do service to this end. 



Where simply a lack of nervous or muscular power is sup- 

 posed to be the defect, the bulbous roots of the icNdicendiveni 



