258 



SOME TKinAI. CUSTOMS IN THEIB HELATION TO MEDICINE AND MOEALS 



" Gun 

 medicine ' 



Mourning 

 charms 



((/) Angalabay, to ward off the attacks of carnivora. 



(e) Korra, to attract game. 



(/J Kadra and Ungandria, two whistles used in conjuuction to attract elephant for 

 spearing from among the branches of large trees. (The usual methods of Nyam- 

 nyam elephant hunting, pit-trapping and " burning out" are also in vogue.) 



2. Gun medicine clutnii 



To give the user a good " eye " for straight shooting and to safeguard him against 

 shot. It is a very universal idea, met with all over the Sudan amongst both the 

 primitive Mohammedan and pagan population. Livingstone refers to it in Central 

 Africa as " Gun medicine, without which they believed that no one could shoot straight. 

 Sulphur was a favourite gun medicine, and I remember Sechele giving a 

 large price for a very small bit . . . . also .... for another medicine which 

 was to make him invulnerable to musket balls." 



The Nyam-nyam gun medicine is called Mobienia ; it consists of a section of the root 

 and another of the branch of a certain tree, each charred at one end. For use the charcoal 

 is rubbed into the outer angle of the " sight" eye and between the thumb and forefinger of 

 the right hand. 



To strengthen the eyes (not specially for hunting purposes), both lids are blackened 

 with the charred ends. (For a similar purpose the Arabs employ Kohl.) 



Bullets that have killed an elephant are also greatly prized as gun medicine and 

 charms to bring success with safety in the chase. 



Hunting amulets are indeed very numerous, especially among the Nyam-nyam and 

 have already been referred to under "Whistling Charms." 



3. Moiindnij' char ins. (Nijam-nyaiii) 



Gorowa, a bracelet made up of beads with several small squares of polished ivory 

 interspersed, each of which latter is in memory of a departed wife. It is w'orn so that 

 a wife's death may not lessen the vitality of the husband. Sultan Yango carried such 

 a bracelet, set with, I think, five ivory squares. 



The customs of wearing rudely worked mourning-rings of brass and copper 

 (Plate XVIII., fig. 8), which are first placed on the finger of the deceased and then 

 transferred to that of the mourner, as also of wearing a "pretty" charm, or simply a 

 tie of native cord round the neck for the space of one year after the demise of a wife, 

 are of interest. They are common to both Nyam-nyam and Gour. 



i. Liijlitiiiii;/ charm. (Nijam-nyaiii) 



Patr, a charm consisting of two small sections from the branch of a tree that has been 

 struck Ijy lightning. This is worn on the person or placed within the dwelling-hut 

 to protect against lightning; in the latter case it is termed Logo, and is then said 

 to possess the additional quality of quieting a nagging wife, perhaps for ever, if scrapings 

 are surreptitiously introduced into her food. 



Maladies 



The following are some of the savage's recognised complaints and their native 

 remedies [see also Drugs). 



Fever 



Treated with draughts of hot water and infusions of certain drugs (amongst them 

 ardaib fruit, probably introduced by the Arabs) {vide Drugs 6, -pacje 261). 



