THF. MEDICINE MAN IN NATAL AND ZULULAND. I99 



a clyster — (for both these forms of treatment are widely prac- 

 tised, and are regarded as a specific for the removal of bile. If 

 rightly prescribed, and medicines of a harmless nature used, they 

 may form the most valuable part of the course ; hut several 

 instances are on record where death has resulted both from the 

 emetic and the clyster,* due to the inclusion of a poisonous 

 ingretiient. If there is pain in any part of the body this must be 

 removed by a counter-irritant. Cutaneous incisions are made 

 over the afflicted spot, and a j^owdered substance is rubbed in. 

 Mr. J. Y. Gibson, late Nati\e Commissioner for Zululand, informs 

 me that he witnessed one of these operations at a Royal kraal, 

 the peculiarity of which was that the assistant had a frog in 

 readiness in a pail of water. After the powder had been rubbed 

 in, the doctor took the frog and wiped off what remained with 

 the mouth of the ifrog, passing it over the incised surface. 

 Replacing it in the pail he then directed the assistant to take it 

 back to the stream and let it go. The frog may in this case have 

 been regarded as the scapegoat to take away and dissipate the 

 evil which caused the pain. 



External. treatment is almost invariably complementary to the 

 taking^ of drugs. (It is a disappointed native wdio comes away 

 from a European doctor without a lotion which can make its 

 presence felt on the skin.) In the preparation of prescriptions 

 and the administration of the medicines, whether for internal or 

 external use, there is much solemnity and ritual. The delibera- 

 tion and care with which the ingredients — whether bone, quartz, 

 (fat, snake-skin, dried flesh, bark, root, and the rest — are selected; 

 the cutting oflt" of tiny fragments here and there, the roasting of 

 some on the udcngesi, or potsherd, the pounding up of others ; 

 the boiling of leaves and roots, the infusion of green herbs, the 

 .scraping of tendons from the slaughtered animals, and the addi- 

 tion df the requisite amount of blood — all this must in itself be an 

 inspiration to the expectant patient and his friends. Elaborate 

 instructions also are given for the taking of these nostrums. 

 Interest may be further kept up by a little judicious cupping by 

 means of a hollow horn. Possibly the condition of the patient 

 requires something more drastic, and a pit or underground oven is 

 prepared and heated, into which, when the fire is scraped away, he 

 is placed. ( )r. instead of this form of Turkish bath — which is 

 not popular — a shower bath may be prescribed. This is very 

 reviving when the patient is in extremis, or thinks he is too ill to 

 move. Herbs and medicines of the intelesi class are thrown 

 into boiling water, and the patient is plenteously besprinkled over 

 the body with a mixture hot enough to raise blisters. The idea 

 that he is incapable of moving is thus effectively refuted. This 

 is a u.seful remedy, irrespective of the nature of the disease — 



* The metliod of administering a clyster by means of a cow's horn is 

 very arionrately described by Dr. Park Ross in his article "A fictitious 

 Native di.sease — ifiifrrrbrdhln " iAinmlN of Tropical Medicine and Ftixis-ito- 

 h^ny, 7, 371). 



