KALA-A2AH COJrMISSION 145 



wulls which have buuii Hootk'il iliiiin^ tht^ i.iiiis, using IIV//fc</< with fund, liatiiig Munihtki, 

 sloepiiif,' on the },'muntl at tho bugiiuiing of tlie rains and so inhaUng tin; vaiiours whic.ii 

 arist) from tho warm moist earth, all these have been given as causes of kala-azar. 

 Some consider the disease higldy infectious and won't oat or driidi frojn tin; same vessels as 

 the patient or sleep in the same house. 

 Wei/kiih is made as follows : — 



Dura stalks are heaped on the ground and burnt, the ashes collected and put into a 

 iliiiiii, in which there is a small hole at the bottom. Water is poured on to this and (liters 

 through into a second vessel. The filtrate is light yellow in colour and slightly saline 

 in taste and is used with food instead of salt, when salt is unobtainable or the people 

 too poor to buy it. 



ManiUki is a strong-smelling preparation of raw pounded fish, bones included, made 

 into balls and hung up in the Inkl, pieces being broken oft' as reijuired. These fish balls 

 are made either from a mud fish called itannnut, or else from Hear which they say is 

 a young form of the fish known as Haps. Both Wiijkab and Mandaki are only used by the 

 very poorest people, and, under exceptional circumstances, by others. 



All these alleged causes would seem to point to an intestinal infection caused by food 

 or water getting contaminated by soil. 



Some years ago in the Dahari of the Ge/iia west of Wad Medaiii, I saw several cases 

 of night blindness which were attributed to the excessive use of Wi'ijkah. 



I wish to thank the Inspector-General, Sir Rudolph Jiaron von Slatin Pasha, lor Native 

 the following interesting information as regards native treatment which he kindly sent me.' ■'''^'^""'^"' 



"The disease which the natives of the Northern Districts in the Sudan call ' Kl 

 Semeih,' is called by tiie Taaisha Tribes of the West ' Abu Safar,' which means ' father 

 of yellow.' 



"It commences with strong fevei-, the body loses all its fiesh and the colour of 

 the skin becomes extremely pale ; the abdoiiaeu increases considerably in size and the 

 tongue turns white. 



" The process of natives in the treatment of this disease is as follows : - 

 " They take the root of a climbing shrub, called El. Lawia, whose leaves are of this 

 shape («:c^^) and that of another shrub called El Deheujhi, and mix theru with 'Iron 

 scale' {Khanj-EI-JIaJid), and a handful of red ^jepper (Sluitla). All this is pounded 

 into powder. A young he-goat is then slain and skinned ; and the head, feet and inside 

 being discarded, the remainder is cut into small pieces and put into a large pot filled witlj 

 plenty of water. This is mixed with the powder thus prepared, the pot is placed on 

 the lire in the evening and caused to boil for some six hours. 



"At daybreak, the patient is first given about ^ a rotl of Setun (butter J and then about 

 the same quantity of the prepared broth and a few slices of the boiled bitter goat-meat. 



"The effect is that of a very strong purgative, and the same treatment should be 

 repeated for three times in succession (it is advisable to take the broth of this jjurge a 

 li|^le warm J, while at the end of the three days the patient should consume l:>eiim in large 

 quantities for another three days, and the diet should consist of meat, bread, milk, but no 

 vegetable such as Weika, or what the Sudanese call El JJurrahu." 



These shrubs exist in districts south of Sennar, but the natives do not use them. 

 I questioned some of the older Taaishi on the Blue Nile and they confirmed this, and 

 say that the plant is known here also as El Lawia, though the natives of the district were 

 ignorant of its u se. So far as I could find out, there is no recognised treatment for the 

 ' Statement made in Arabic by " Western Arabs."— E. Slatiu 



