698 SMALL-POX AMONGST THE BA-RONGA. 



The flesh of the ox, sheep, goat, pig must not be eaten, because 

 these animals have blood in their flesh. That blood entering the 

 tody of small-pox patients may have the same bad results as salt ; 

 moreover, that blood is black, whilst fish meat is white. Black 

 must be avoided, because black small-pox is much more deadly 

 th.an white small-pox. There are, in fact, two kinds of pustules. 

 Sometimes they are broad, superficial ; the epiderm of the black 

 skin is curiously discoloured over them and becomes whitish. 

 1 his is the mild or discrete form of the disease ; in this case 

 pustules are scattered all over the body, well separated from each 

 other and not confluent, whilst in other cases the pustules are 

 black, narrow, near each other, which is the confluent or hsemor- 

 rhagic form of the disease, and it is then very serious. The aim 

 of the whole medication is to foster t'he white form and to 

 prevent the black one. And here is another curious device of 

 native doctors to obtain this result : There is a resemblance 

 between the white pustules and grains of mealies, and it is not 

 less striking between the black pustules and the grains of Kafir 

 corn. For that reason one must put mealies under the eyes of 

 patients and remove any Kafir corn far from them. In each hut 

 there are a few spikes of millet, the black Kafir corn, which are 

 kept there fixed in the reeds of the roof as seeds for the next 

 season. They are carefully taken away and hidden somewhere 

 in the bush during the whole time of the epidemic. On the other 

 hand, white grains of mealies are chosen, softened in water, 

 carefully pierced, attached together with a string, and inade into 

 necklaces, which are tied round the throat of each of the patients 

 as long as the disease lasts. 



This rite is a characteristic example of Bantu medical art. 

 This art may sometimes have a therapeutic value ; but in most 

 cases it is pure magic. The principle on which it is based is the 

 old saying: Simitia similibus curantur. There is a mutual influence- 

 between things which bear the same external- appearance. Thus 

 the mealie necklace will produce white pustules ! This is one 

 of the main features of Bantu conception of Nature. Sympa 

 ihetic Magic, as it has been called, is at the root of most of their 

 medical rites, and this is indeed a very good illustration of the 

 principle. 



4. The Religious Act. 



But notwithstanding the mealie necklace, it may happen, and 

 frequently does happen, that the disease takes that malignant 

 form which is so much dreaded. The patient is covered with pus. 

 tules ; fever is high, pain very great. He no longer sleeps on 

 an ordinary mat ; it becomes necessary to put banana or mafureira 

 leaves under his body owing to the discharge of nasty fluid, 

 and this is considered as a very bad sign indeed. The sores are 

 covered with ochre, and the patient will have to be fed not with 

 the ordinary plates which he would be hardly able to hold, but 

 with a calabash cut into two (shihambasi). The headman 

 shakes his head, and tells his parents: Hahlani! . 



Ku hahla is the proper term to designate sacrifices to the 



