370 PRINCIPAL MEDICAL CASES. 



good for nothing. Presents were also frequently 

 made, in return for medicine consisting, in addition 

 to bags of milk, sometimes of a fine sheep or goat, so 

 that the Hy Soumaulee, whilst we were living here, 

 fared sumptuously at no expense to me, for Ohmed 

 Mahomed was more conscientious, or had began to 

 know me better than to make his every second 

 day demand for a bullock. 



Diseases of the eyes I found most prevalent 

 among the Dankalli. Sometimes I was asked to 

 afford assistance in cases of severe sword and spear 

 wounds. One of the men belonging to the kraal 

 where I found the boxes had three large wounds 

 in the side, each one of which looked sufficient to 

 have produced death ; and besides these, he had a 

 spear wound completely through the muscles of 

 the thigh. 



In treating several of their complaints I had 

 recourse to an infallible water cure, for having but 

 a small stock of medicine, I was obliged to contrive 

 how to make them go as far as I could. Epsom salts, 

 among other sweet things, was considered quite a 

 bon-bon, and of this article I had but about one pound 

 weight, so I dispensed it generally in tea-spoonsful 

 to each applicant, instructing them, at the same 

 time, that to increase its effect they must drink a 

 great deal of water immediately after taking it. 

 In one case, an anxious mother returned some two or 

 three hours after I had given her son a dose of the 

 salts. As she stooped down to look into my 



