200 THE MEDICINE MAN IN NATAL AND ZULULAND. 



whether iniikiililaiie (a chest complaint, fevers, malaria, etc.) or 

 any other. 



Not to unduly extend the somewhat comprehensive range of 

 disorders which our modern ^sculapius is called upon to attend 

 at the kraal to which he has been summoned, let it be supposed 

 that one of the inmates is suffering from an attack of mumps. 

 He cannot be expected to recover until he has supplemented his 

 treatment by walking backward to an ant-bear hole into which he 

 must shout " Zagiga, Zagiga. iigi yckc, ngi yekc!" (numips. 

 numips leave me, leave me). His final cases mu.st be surgical. 

 A collision with a kno'bkerrie has perhaps resulted in a fractured 

 skull. The wound is well probed, and loose pieces of bone 

 extracted. The aperture, by this time considerable, must be 

 tilled up with a specially prepared suppository, and plastered over 

 with cow dung. When septicaemia is well advanced the Euro- 

 pean doctor will ])robably be sent for. No such necessity, how- 

 ever, arises with the concluding operation — a dislocated ankle or 

 knee. The injured limb is buried in the ground, and the earth 

 made fast around it by ramming with a pole — then " a long, long 

 pull and a strong strong pull "' by half a dozen stalwarts will 

 soon give the required relief. 



It is not proposed to attempt to detail fully the course of 

 treatment which a medicine man may follow in any particular 

 malady, or to give an exhaustive account of the various methods 

 that may be employed. The rough outline that has been attempted 

 may serve to illustrate some of the ordinary ways of alleviating 

 pain and suft'ering, without suggesting that they may not be varied 

 according to circumstances, or necessarily be resorted to in every 

 case. 



Imitation of the European doctor's methods is not un- 

 common, and European medicines, especially powders, are a 

 frequent addition to the dispensary of a native doctor, though he 

 may know nothing of their properties and uses. In one instance 

 arsenite of soda was administered in good Ifiaith, but with a tragic 

 result. In another, a medicine man, who was impressed with the 

 value of vaccination, inoculated a number of natives from the 

 postules in a case of confluent smallpox. There were eight deaths, 

 himself included, before the matter was reported to the authori- 

 ties. 



Time is no object in the healing of disease — as distinguished 

 from accidents which may obviously call for a less leisured 

 attention, or snake-bite, where every moment is ])recious. The 

 princi])le of " no cure, no pay " carries with it a hope for the 

 best while life lasts, and ensures a long attendance in obstinate 

 cases; not easily must the patient be surrendered — and if eventu- 

 ally he recovers, whether as a triumph to nature in spite of the 

 doctor, or to the doctor in spite of nature, the applause and 

 reward (usually a beast) are claimed by the doctor. If the fates 

 rule otherwise, the fault must he attributed, not to the medicine 

 man. whose prestige may remain unassailed, but to a flank attack 

 by the secret enemy, whose witchcralft has proved too strong. 



