NATIVE EEMEDIES. 



213 



a pot with water, and, when it was boiling, placed it on a spot be- 

 neath a blanket thrown around both me and it. This produced 

 no immediate effect ; he then got a small bundle of different kinds 

 of medicinal woods, and, burning them in a potsherd nearly to 

 ashes, used the smoke and hot vapor arising from them as an aux- 

 iliary to the other in causing diaphoresis. I fondly hoped that 

 they had a more potent remedy than our own medicines afford ; 

 but after being stewed in their vapor-baths, smoked like a red 

 herring over green twigs, and charmed secundem artem, I con- 

 cluded that I could cure the fever more quickly than they can. 

 If we employ a wet sheet and a mild aperient in combination with 

 quinine, in addition to the native remedies, they are an important 

 aid in curing the fever, as they seem to have the same stimulat- 

 ing effects on the alimentary canal as these means have on the ex- 

 ternal surface. Purgatives, general bleedings, or indeed any vio- 

 lent remedies, are injurious ; and the appearance of a herpetic 

 eruption near the mouth is regarded as an evidence that no inter- 

 nal organ is in danger. There is a good deal in not " giving in" 

 to this disease. He who is low-spirited, and apt to despond at 

 every attack, will die sooner than the man who is not of such a 

 melancholic nature. 



The Makololo had made a garden and planted maize for me, 

 that, as they remarked when I was parting with them to pro- 

 ceed to the Cape, I might have food to eat when I returned, as 

 well as other people. The maize was now pounded by the wom- 

 en into fine meal. This they do in large wooden mortars, the 



Egyptian Pestle and Mortar, Sieves, Corn Vessels, and Kilt, identical with those in use by the Ma- 

 kololo and Makalaka From Sir Or. Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians." 



