THE MEDICINE MAN IX XATAL AND ZULULAXD. I93 



part of Natal — as distinct from Zululand. He is permitted to 

 charge a preliminary or retaining- fee {iilitg.va), which must not 

 exceed ten shilhngs ; further payments depend on the wise 

 principle of " no cure, no pay." The patient is further protected 

 by the right to claim civil damages ifor blunders or negligence, 

 entailing bad results, independent of any criminal charge which 

 may be preferred. It may be remarked that if the number of 

 such civil claims bears any relation to the number of failures, 

 the Native doctor must be a singularly proficient man, for it is 

 seldom that recourse is had to law to obtain compensation for 

 the consequences of improper treatment. One such case may 

 be mentioned — a claim against a doctor for eleven head of cattle, 

 representing the loholo, or marriage consideration, which would 

 have been received for a girl if she had not unfortunately met 

 her death at the hands of her medical attendant before the mar- 

 riage took place. It is not suggested that failures are few ; 

 under their own customs this class of litigation would not 

 generally be invoked, Ifor it may be a dangerous thing to make an 

 enemy of the medicine man ; and the fact that European-made 

 law afifords this sanction is perhaps not widely known. Those 

 who have suffered at the hands of the physician are no doubt 

 content to know that he at least can claim no payment for his 

 pains. To practice without a licence is to incur the penalty of 

 the law, and carries with it the further disability that no claim 

 for fees will be entertained. A sharp distinction is drawn 

 between the offices of the medicine man and the diviner. The 

 sale of love philtres and charms is prohibited, and any medicine 

 man resorting to such means of gain will have his licence can- 

 celled, his stock-in-trade confiscated, and himself imprisoned or 

 fined. The rain doctor, the lightning doctor, the witch-doctor 

 are not countenanced, and any Native who thus dabbles in the 

 occult is severely punished if he is found out — ^which, in most 

 instances, he is not. The heavy hand of the law is not confined 

 to the diviner, but falls also on his client, for it is an offence to 

 consult or employ, either personally or by agent or messenger, 

 a witch-doctor in any of his varied capacities ; and to round up 

 the circle the luckless agent or messenger is also caught in the 

 net. To profess for gain any knowledge of witchcraft, or the 

 use of spells or charms, or to give advice with the object of be- 

 witching or injuring any person or property, or to supply any 

 pretended means of witchcraft is to court disaster. Disaster is 

 nevertheless courted very freely and widely, and the eleventh 

 commandment — not to be found out — is successlf'ully observed in 

 the majority of cases. Thus far the law in Natal, as set forth in 

 the Native Code of 1891. 



In Zululand. to which most of the Natal laws apply, this 

 Code is not in force, but speciil regulations, issued under Pro- 

 clamation, follow much the san.e lines. Offences arising out of 

 witchcraft are dealt with under Proclamation 2 of 1887, and 

 to accuse another of witchcraft is an offence. No such cases 

 can be tried by the chiefs (who have far wider criminal powers 



