3IO ZULU WITCH DOCTORS. 



If a man wishes to become great among his people, to be respected 

 and feared, he pounds up certain stones which are very heavy in weight, 

 and mixes them with fat. He also puts in some quicksilver. He anoints 

 his face with this medicine. He also puts the eye of a lion or the eye of 

 a large snake into the mixture. This makes a medicine which gives a 

 man great dignity, and makes him to be feared. The doctors mix up 

 these medicines, and say that the mixture gives a man a powerful 

 personal appearance, and that in the presence of this medicine and its 

 effect, diseases of the body are overcome. 



If a person has broken a leg, don't cut it off. .\ small ])onc of a 

 dog should be tied on the leg until the bone is united. That is the 

 treatment of a broken bone. 



Another treatment for a broken bone is to take the roots of the 

 iiiiitonibi tree — not the roots in the ground, Init the roots hanging down 

 from the branches — also take the trunk of a banana tree; also take some 

 other trees which, when cut, do not drj- up, but sprout out quickly. The 

 name of such a tree is i niahlokolo.zi. 'I'his mcdicne causes sv^'clling. ;in(l 

 then draws out the pus from the sore. 



Also take acid stones, such as blue stone, and a white stone, such as 

 is used for mending buckets, and grind them up intcj a powder, and ml) 

 them into the body through holes cut in the skin ovt-r the injured part. 

 The stones cause some pain. All these medicines go straight to the injury 

 and cause the hones to unite. 



l~or the disease which causes twitching of the flesh and spasms of the 

 body it is necessary to get twitching medicines- Some animals are good 

 for this kind of medicine, such as the !i>ifinge.zi — a small beetle-like insect 

 which, if touched, curls up into a small ball — and tiic /.ifi.si — an animal 

 which, if touched, pretends to bi. dead — also some animals from the sea 

 which act in the same way. which roll themselves up and pretend to be 

 dead when taken out of the water; also worms; -ilso trees and plants which 

 if touched, fokl up their leaves. These plants and the flesh of these 

 animals make medicines which cure the twitching diseases and spasms. 

 They are taken internally and rubbed into the bod.\ through holes cut in 

 the skin. 



In all tiiese diseases it is necessary to uses medicines for vomiting 

 and medicines for enemata while the other medicines are being used. 



Tlii.s is the \va\' native doctors cure disea.se. I do not claim 

 for a moment that the native doctors do not have powerful medi- 

 cines at hand. They mo.st certainly do, and they tise them in a 

 powerful manner. The Rev. F. F. Bridgman has given me the 

 following incident : 



In Zululand, on one occasion, 1 arrived at ;i i)!ace where a girl of 

 sixteen or so, had died suddenly an hour or so prc\iously. She was 

 ailing, and had been administered an herbal potion. She dropped dead 

 soon after- The supposition by the natives was that .'rhe had been givn 

 an overdose. Certainly the circumstances seemed to indicate that. After 

 taking the dose she had gone to the river and died there. 



Before the Native High Court, 25 March, 1914, was heard 

 the case of Ciaxana, who had heen conxicted of culpahle homicide. 

 A native woman. Nonkani. had been dreaming, (javana ])rofesscd 

 to be a doctor, and made a medicine for her from isiudiyaiidiya. 

 The medicine was given to her at 5 a.m.. and she died at (^ a.m. 



The Rev. Johannes Astritp gi\es me the following case: 



I have (jne native boy here who had brain iever when he was about 

 eight or nine years of age. The stupid ass of a " doctor " lilled his ears 

 with some poisonous stufif, which destroyed his ears, so that he is deaf 

 as a door post and partly dumb. 



