304 
MEDICAL PKACTICES AND SUPERSTITIONS OF KORDOFAN 
Arab 
treatment 
Other methods 
of treating 
leprosy 
As a rather more expensive treatment, the blood of the Kharoof, or wild liog, may he 
applied externally and taken internally; as wild hogs are difficult to get, this method, 
though said to be efficient, is uncommon. Any form of treatment seems limited to those 
cases only where ulceration and open sores exist; before this stage curative steps are seldom 
taken, the easy-going Nirba trusting to his luck. 
Aral/ treatment :— 
This differs but little from that of the Nuba, cupping is less indulged in, but scarring 
of the body in general and cauterisation round the larger joints seem to take its place, 
and the intellectual Mahnia treatment is more commonly practised. The roots of the 
Shdf/arah-El-Nar, Akarjod and Likhalie are also used for local and internal administration, 
besides which copper sulphate mixed with oil may be rubbed on the body and small 
quantities of the same drug given internally with drauglits of marissa. Well-to-do patients 
are sometimes provided with a tub of Seniii oil (butter), in which they sit for an hour every 
day for seven days, whilst others are passed three times through the fire to cleanse them 
of the disease—an interesting custom which reminds one of the recorded usages in the 
worship of the god Moloch. 
The simple faith of the native—who expects immediate cure, or, if this fails, abandons 
himself unreservedly to Kismet—excludes any prolonged treatment in this as in other 
<liseases. A specified duration of fasts, courses, purges, and the like must either cure or 
leave uncured by the will of Allah in a specified time. 
Other methods are :— 
1. Durinij the early stages the patient drinks no plain water, its place being taken by a 
mild infusion of Garad (fruit pods of the Sunt tree). His sole diet is of dry 
bread, with dried meat allowed every fifteenth day. 
He fumigates his body (over a burina' sunk in the ground) with the wood of 
the Talh-El-Uamra [Acacia seyal) or llaUil (Comhrefiim mnltis^icatum) Engl, 
et Diels. 
This treatment is continued for 40 days, during which time attention is paid to 
general health and good digestion in particular. The ijatient must avoid smelling 
any perfume or pleasant smell ; no very difficult matter. 
The disease is here attributed to an excess of blood, as evidenced by the 
discoloured patches on the body. The astringent infusion of Garad remedies this. 
Bleeding may also be resorted to. 
2. The patient is isolated for 40 days, during which time no drug is given. His diet 
consists solely of goat’s milk. Onions are strictly prohibited, as also the smelling 
of pleasant perfumes. 
3. In severe cases—cauterisation of all the joints of the body. To this form of 
treatment is attributed many remarkable cures. 
4. A Falatah treatment combining the medicinal and Mahaia methods is practised 
as follows : The root of a tree called Ligna. (Falatah), El Knlkul (Arabic), (Bauhinia 
rufescens, Lam.) is dried and cut into small lengths, on each of which is written 
a Koranic verse, beginning “ You who have faith.” A special “ Khatim ” (a series 
of mystic signs arranged in the parallel sub-divisions of a square) is then written 
by the officiating Fiki on a writing board and, when dry, washed off. (Fig. 65.) The 
pieces of root are now placed in the resulting inky fluid and boiled for several 
hours, during which time the Fiki prays. 
^ Eartlieuwai'c vessel. 
