154 NATIVE TREATMENT. 



the tribe among whom Clark had been natu- 

 ralized, was first seized with it, and died, as had 

 been predicted by the kradjee, or physician and 

 soothsayer. He had previously been with a 

 tribe situated near the sea, and it is probable 

 may have seen the disease before, although he 

 disclaimed having any but supernatural know- 

 ledge of it. 



The plan of treatment followed in the case of 

 the king was immersion in cold water ; four 

 persons of less note underwent the same, and 

 only one survived. The consequence was, that 

 other medicinal measures were thought of, and 

 the cold-bath was stigmatized and abandoned. 

 Scorching the hair from the head, and pricking 

 the pustules with a sharp-pointed fish bone, 

 then squeezing out the fluid contained in them 

 with the flat part of the instrument, was the 

 next mode of cure adopted by the kradjee ; and 

 it is worthy of remark, that the operation sug- 

 gested itself to him from the observation that 

 the pustules burst spontaneously, and discharged 

 whitish matter, in the first case of recovery. 



It is curious, observes Dr. Mair, that the 

 very same process was recommended by Avi- 

 cenna, the celebrated Arabian physician, who 

 flourished in the tenth century of the christian 

 era, and gave the first complete history of the 



