SOCIETY OP THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 49 



be seen by any chance travellers coming through the kraal, one of 

 whom might be a witch. Under the first heading, we find men with 

 dropsy, lepers, advanced cases of pulmonary disease and small-pox. 

 As regards this last complaint, should only one or two cases occur at 

 a kraal they are isolated. Should the disease suddenly assume an 

 epidemic form, it is considered that the isolation of a number of cases 

 is impossible, and accordingly the patients are allowed to remain in 

 their own huts. When the medical men decide that the patient will 

 not recover, he is looked upon as being dead in the same way as was 

 done in the old days in England, when a leper, before being turned 

 out of the community, had the burial service read over him, and his 

 property confiscated. Accordingly, all the man's possessions his 

 hut, his wives, etc. pass to his next of kin, probably his brother. 

 There is this exception, however, that the patient's children still 

 remain his property, and they, if old enough, are responsible for his 

 food. 



Circumcision. There is one native rite where the medical man 

 takes a leading part, namely, that of circumcision. This rite was 

 originally practised by all the Bantu races, but it has been discon- 

 tinued by some, including all the Zulu races, as it prevented them at 

 times putting all their men into the field in time of war. Thus on the 

 East Coast it is practised by the Myambaams and Mtyopi, but not by 

 the Shangaans. The winter is the time usually selected for the opera- 

 tion. When it has been decided to carry out the ceremony, a number 

 of camps, known as Soka camps, are chosen, and placed in charge of 

 a native doctor, generally a man of some importance, selected from 

 the chief's kraals, though the local doctor may act as his assistant. 



The ceremony forms a kind of brotherhood among the boys be- 

 longing to each camp, and for this reason when a chief's son is to be 

 operated on it is customary to get as many boys as possible in his 

 camp, so that he may have a large following. The ages of the boys 

 operated on vary considerably. Sometimes the operation is performed 

 during childhood ; at other times it does not take place until the man 



is grey-headed, This diversity in age is accounted for by the fact that 



7 



