ZULU WITCH DOCTORS. 3II 



When \vc consider the nati\e doctors' conii)lete ignorance 

 of physiology, pathology, and the indications for treatment, we 

 can readily comprehend that, the more povyerfiil medicines he has 

 at his command the more dangerous a legalised malefactor ]ic 

 becomes. 'I"hc ahoye arc. of course, onl\ illustrati\'e cases. They 

 could be miilti])lied 1)\- hinidreds and tlioiisands if one had the 

 time and |)atience to ferret them out. 



In surgery, for the most part, the natiye d<x^tor confines his 

 operation to cutting holes in the skin for rubbing in medicines, 

 and to cutting do^yn on the skull and scraping it for headache. 

 Occasionally they \v\\\ operate with great boldness. Dr. Bonfa. 

 of Umzinto. tells of a case in which the natiye doctor made an 

 abdominal incision for the relief of ascites. He got the fluid all 

 right, l)Ut didn't know what to do next, .^^o he left the wound open 

 to drain, and so ])re\ent the fluid from re-collecting. When tried 

 for culpable homicide, he was cleared on the ground that he hail 

 a Goyernment license to ])ractice, and was doing his best. 



It is in childbirth where we get the most mournful results. 

 There is prevalent a very general belief that women who live 

 near to nature go through childbirth without complications, with- 

 out danger, and i)ractically without suffering. My experience 

 among the Zulus leads me to the opposite conclusion. I have 

 seen atid heard of a great many deaths of native women in child- 

 birth, which, with very few exceptions, could have been avoided 

 with timely medical attention. I have seen a large number of 

 cases of vesico-vaginal fistula due to neglect during child-birth or 

 to reckless cutting oi)erations. 1 have seen a large number of 

 Ct.ses in which the vagina was obliterated In' cicatricial tissue due 

 to cuttin,g operations, infection, etc. The number of deaths among 

 the natives and cases of in\-alidism. resulting from child-birth, due 

 to lack of attention or to ignorant meddling with natural j)r:>- 

 cesses. is ap])alling. 



The following cases illustrate some of the methods of the 

 native doctors and midwives. Tn the Ixopo Division, in 1891^, 

 a man complained to the magistrate that the doctor was charging 

 him too much, as his wife had dierl. The evidence showed that 

 his wife had had twins. The first child was born normally. The 

 second was slow in ctjming, and the native doctor was called in. 

 He jiroceeded to operate with a large knife, hlxamination showed 

 that the diictor had cut away a large piece of the uterus. On 

 trial the man was cleared on the ground that the (lovernment had 

 licensed him to practice medicine, and that he had done the best 

 he could. 



Dr. Bonfa, of Umzinto. reports a case that came under his 

 observation in which two men were placed outside the hut r> 

 pull on ropes tied to the woman's legs while the midwife delivered 

 the child. As a result of the treatment she received, the woman 

 died of puerperal fever. On trial, the Court held that the mid- 

 wife had done the best that she knew how. and she was dis- 

 charged. 



