64 EEV. ALFRED T. BRYANT. 



Perhaps it possesses some sedative properties. A hot infusion 

 of the fleshy stalks of the uZililo (Stapelia gigantea) is 

 used as an emetic for the same purpose. 



The physical or mental affection with which native witch- 

 doctors are always afflicted may be a form of hysteria, and 

 they are sometimes medically treated. For instance, the 

 roots of the um'Hlonishwa (Psoralea pin n at a) and of the 

 uBhuhluibhn climber (Helinus ovata) are pounded and 

 stirred with cold water until the liquid froths, when it is 

 drunk as an emetic. Multifarious superstitious formalities 

 are at the same time performed, but their mention is of no 

 importance here. 



A few years ago a curious complaint, forming quite an 

 epidemic, was introduced into N. E. Zululand from the 

 adioining Tongaland. The disease attacked young persons 

 of both sexes, but generally girls. The sufferers would con- 

 gregate in bands and they would have wild convulsive fits, 

 and fits of jumping frenzy during which the head would be 

 completely smothered beneath several layers of cloth secured 

 about the chest and back by braces of goat skin common to 

 all types of Zulu witch-doctors. They would cry in uncanny 

 tones, likened to the bellowing of a bull, and would speak in 

 an " unknown tongue." 



A person so afflicted, even after a more or less complete 

 recoverv, is known as an iNdiki. 



The Zulu imagines that the disease is due to a new type 

 of spiint, akin to the iDlozi (or ancestral familiar spirit) and 

 umLozilxazana (or whistling familar spirit) and yet distinct 



from both. 



I have prosecuted some inquiries, which have led me to the 

 conviction that the convulsive fits were plainly those of 

 epilepsy ; that the " unknown tongue " was simply incoherent 

 mutterino-s in Zulu and kindred languages, and that the rest 

 was mainly hysteria. 



Insanity. 



Various physical derangements are apt to cause a temporary 

 insanity or delirium [uHlanija) with the natives, mostly mani- 



