THE MEDICINE MAN IN NATAL AND /.ULULAND. ly/ 



numbers are considerable, it is impossible to do more than take 

 the average as a basis upon which to work, and to seek to form an 

 approximately correct conclusion upon that average. There is no 

 school of medicine among the Natives by which their attainments 

 may be judged; the apjiellation by which they are known is not 

 communistic except as a title to distinguish them from other 

 Natives; it is an individualistc community with a common object 

 — 'the healing of disease — ^Ixit as to the methods employed, each 

 man is more or less a law unto himself. While it is safe to assert 

 that no single member of that community can be said to have even 

 a moderate grasp of his profession as a science in the sense imder- 

 stood by us, it would be incorrect to affirm that as a body they are 

 so completely ignorant as to be incapaole of efifecting simple cures. 

 Among them, as in every community, are to be found men of 

 much greater skill than the average, who have some right to the 

 reputation accorded to them; but if their standard were the aver- 

 age it would still be so low as to bear no comparison with the 

 lowest qualifications in therapeutics and pharmacy in any estab- 

 lishment where these subjects are scientifically taught. 



To say that there is no school of medicine among the Natives 

 is not to imply that there is no common use of the same in- 

 gredients for the same purposes. There is little or no interchange 

 of ideas between medicine men ; but the properties of certain 

 herbs, roots, plants and bark which are widely used is common 

 knowledge among them. So, also, in speaking of the medicine 

 man as representati\'e df his class, it is asstimed that he has 

 undergone, to some extent at least, the preliminary training 

 which is expected of him. To-day there is probably an in- 

 creasing number who seek to earn an easy if precarious livelihood 

 by entering the " profession " without such training, and, whether 

 licensed or not, pass themselves oft' as doctors. The medicine 

 man proper serves his apprenticeship as a medicine carrier 

 (Impakata or Uhlaka) or assistant to some one actually in 

 ])ractice, and his novitiate may extend over a number of years. 

 He is not at first permitted to do more than watch his master, 

 and pick up what fragments of knowledge he may ; but in time 

 he is allowed to help in the preparation of the various decoctions 

 which form the materia inedica of the trade, and to administer 

 them under super\ision. Later on he may be dispatched to visit 

 a patient by himself to carry out some minor details of the course 

 of treatment, and report progress. All this stands him in good 

 stead ; he becomes well known and makes the most of the 

 authority committed to him. Thus, eventually, when he breaks 

 away from his instructor, and starts a practice of his own, he feels 

 that he has graduated with honour and that his credentials are 

 secure. He has probably paid a premium — ^perhaps a beast or 

 two — for his tuition, and given his services free, and ma}' 

 reasonably expect to reap his reward in due time. Not many, 

 however, are now content to undergo a lengthy training. The 

 demand for labour lias tatight them the value oif their ser\ices 



