286 SMOKING AND ITS EFFECTS. Chap. XIY. 



work, nor pianoforte practice, to occupy their fingers, nor 

 reading to improve their minds ; few have children to at- 

 tend to, and time does hang rather heavily on their hands. 

 The men wickedly aver that their two great amusements, or 

 modes for killing time, are sipping beer, and secretly smoking 

 bang, or Indian hemp, here known as matokwane. Although 

 the men indulge pretty freely in smoking it, they do not 

 like their wives to follow their example, and many of the 

 "monsters" prohibit it. Nevertheless, some women do 

 smoke it secretly, and the practice causes a disease known 

 by a minute eruption on the skin, quite incurable unless 

 the habit be abandoned. The Chief himself is a slave to 

 this deleterious habit, and could hardly be induced to give 

 it up, even during the short time he was under medical treat- 

 ment. We had ample opportunities for observing the ef- 

 fects of this matokwane smoking on our men. It makes 

 them feel very strong in body, but it produces exactly the 

 opposite effect upon the mind. Two of our finest young 

 men became inveterate smokers, and partially idiotic. 

 The performances of a group of matokwane smokers are 

 somewhat grotesque : they are provided with a calabash of 

 pure water, a split bamboo, five feet long, and the great 

 pipe, which has a large calabash or kudu's horn chamber to 

 contain the water, through which the smoke is drawn, Nar- 

 ghille fashion, on its way to the mouth. Each smoker takes 

 a few whiffs, the last being an extra long one, and hands 

 the pipe to his neighbour. He seems to swallow the fumes ; 

 for, striving against the convulsive action of the muscles of 

 chest and throat, he takes a mouthful of water from the cala- 

 bash, waits a few seconds, and then pours water and smoke 

 from his mouth down the groove of the bamboo. The smoke 

 causes violent coughing in all, and in some a species of frenzy, 



