CHAP. V. VARIETIES OF NATIVE MEDICINE. Ul 



My visitors were generally as willing to have their houses 

 taken as their o^\^l portraits ; but I sometimes found it dif- 

 ficult to prevent the crowd, which invariably gathered round, 

 from standing before the camera, either with a desire to look 

 or to be included in the picture. * From the natural objects in 

 the neighbourhood, I obtained views of some curious species of 

 pandanus surrounding a cattle -fold not far from my dwelling. 

 Sometimes, while thus employed, I had applications of another 

 kind. On the first morning when I went out, as soon as I 

 had fixed the camera before the house which I Avished to take, 

 the mistress of the premises came and asked me to look at a 

 slave who had been suffering some days vdth. toothache. I 

 fetched an instrument and immediately extracted the tooth. 

 Many of the natives appeared to suffer from toothache ; and 

 in more than one instance I was required to remove two 

 teeth at the same time from one individual. 



From all that I learned in conversing with the natives and 

 with foreigners long resident in the island, it would appear 

 that Madagascar is rich in medicinal plants and gums ; and 

 that the natives are, to a certain extent, acquainted with the 

 medicinal properties of many of the productions of their 

 country. They also- manifest considerable skill in the use of 

 them ; but still many sufferers are met with whom it is pro- 

 bable that more efl&cient medical skill might relieve or 

 restore. The fever which prevails at certain seasons of the 

 year, especially near the coasts, is the most fearful malady to 

 which they are liable ; and natives from the interior, as well 

 as strangers from abroad, are alike subject to its attacks; 

 while the people themselves know of no specific or effectual 

 mode of treatment for it. 



Their remedies are in general effectual in the cure of the 

 bites or stings of the smaller kinds of venomous reptiles and 

 insects, though at times these are such as to occasion great 

 suffering. I once found a large scorpion on my pillow ; at 



