290 
MEDICAL PRACTICES AND SUPERSTITIONS OF KORDOFAN 
Stones as 
charms 
The pan 
played by 
special graves 
vising and setting sun ; it grows in Darfur. The bark and roots possess the same qualities 
as in the case of Aim Tamara. 
Many of these will be referred to more fully under the heading of “ Local Drugs.” 
There are besides other medicinal preparations prescribed by the learned, the 
composition of which remains quite unknown even to the possessor, the charm having not 
infrequently been handed down from father to son for many generations. I possess one 
such, over forty years of age, which was compiled by one of the Mahdi’s physicians and 
presented to me by his son. 
The childhood charms for protection against the evil eye: Aim Ahiail, El (Inza, and 
El [fafiza, have already been mentioned ; the two first, carried in pairs, are, I suspect, 
constructed to resemble eyes, probably of similar origin to the Eyes of Horns and various 
other eye designs irsed for centuries past in like manner. 
Stones. 
Certain rarer stones possess to the native idea curative properties, and hold, I imagine, 
the same colour, and hence suiJerstitious, influence over the mind as they have done and do 
in all countries and at all ages. These are:— 
1. El Ba.rad (Plate XTjII., fig. 1), an oiialescent whitish stone, said to fall from the sky' 
with the hail, hence the name (hail storms being not uncommon during the Khurif). 
It is worn by the man to protect his horse against Xignia (horse-sickness). 
2. El Ferous (turquoise), (Plate XLIL, fig. 6). Is used in cases of urinary retention, 
as follows: A Sihah El Ynsiir (jet rosary) being secured round the patient’s loins, the 
ferous is dropped into cold water, stirred several times, and the fluid drunk as medicine. 
This stone also brings good luck for the day if looked on by the wearer the first thing 
on getting up in the morning, its luck-giving properties being recognised in Africa 
apparently as well as in Europe. 
3. El Ha.yar et I'am, or Fas et Dam (blood-stone) (Plate XLII., figs. 2 and 3)—an 
opaque red stone hearing the same popular name amongst ourselves. It is worn in a ring 
or round the neck, and is reputed to protect against sunstroke and headache ; “a solution ” 
made in boiling water being applied externally and administered internally as a cure in 
either condition. It also stops nose-bleeding when tied tightly round the temples. 
4. El Ilagar el Akhdar (Plate XLIL, figs. 4 and 5), a hard green stone resendfiing 
spar, ijossessing the same styjitic properties as the above. 
5. Jlatjar et Ilorra, or Ain et Ilorra (cat’s-eye), a polished, pure white stone, worn 
by men on the finger or wrist to safeguard the owner against having children by other 
women than his legitimate wives. The careful husband, too, before leaving an untrust¬ 
worthy wife for any period, soaks this stone in sour milk, which he then gives the woman to 
drink ; after which, should she commit adultery, there will result no illegitimate offspring. 
6. Stones from the graves of the holy (Plate XLL, fig. 12). The small white stones 
which decorate the native burial grounds are procured from well-known and reverenced 
graves, and worn as a protection against evil and disease. They also bring good luck and 
sanctity. They are worn in small fragments carried in tin, leather, or horn cases. 
It is remarkable the reverence and awe in which these graves are held by the people, and 
the degree of fanatic and frenzied devotion exhibited by pilgrims visiting them. Various 
graves are famous for differing miraculous qualities, such as the healing of wounds, the 
restoration of health and sanity, the granting of a child to the childless. Some are used as 
places of safe deposit, for l)elongings discarded on the road—no thief presuming to rifle 
■ It is interesting to note that not more than a century ago a like origin was ascrilied to the “ worked flint ” 
iinplenients of primitive man distributed so plentifully over the surface of enlightened Europe. 
