88 LOW STATE OF SURGICAL KNOWLEDGE. Chap. V\ 



as a child's head. Some famous doctor attempted to dissolve 

 it by kindling on it a little fire made of a few small pieces of 

 medicinal roots. I removed this tumour, as I did an immense 

 number of others, with perfect safety. They are chiefly of a 

 fatty and fibrous kind. All the natives have the vis medicatrix 

 in remarkable activity. Both men and women submit to an 

 operation without wincing. The women pride themselves on 

 their ability to bear pain. A mother will address her little girl, 

 from whose foot a thorn is to be extracted, with " Now, Ma, 

 3-0U are a woman ; a woman does not cry." A man scorns to 

 shed tears. The son of an aged father was drowned in one of 

 the deep wells in the Kalahari, while playing on its brink. 

 The father uttered an exceedingly great and bitter cry, the 

 only instance I ever met with of a man weeping in this 

 country. 



Their ideas on obstetrics are unscientific, and for a medical 

 man to go near a woman at her confinement would appear to 

 them more out of place than a female medical student would 

 appear to us in the dissecting-room. A case of twins occurred 

 in which the ointments of all the doctors of the town proved 

 utterly unavailing. A few seconds of English art afforded 

 relief, and the prejudice vanished at once. I reserved myself 

 for the difficult cases ; and had often the satisfaction of ren- 

 dering great assistance to mothers in their hour of sorrow. 

 The poor creatures are often placed in a little hut built for 

 the purpose, and are left without any aid whatever. Um- 

 bilical hernia was frequent in consequence. They suffer less 

 at their confinement than in civilised countries; perhaps 

 from their treating it as a simple operation of nature, which 

 requires no change except a feast of meat and abundance of 

 fresh air. The husband on these occasions is bound to slaughter 

 Jor his lady an ox, goat, or sheep, according to his means, 



My knowledge of midwifery procured for me great fame 

 .n a department in which 1 could lay no claim to merit. 

 A woman came a distance of one hundred miles to consult me 

 in a complaint which seemed to have baffled the native 

 doctors. A complete cure was the result, and some twelve 

 months after she bore a son to her husband, who had 

 previously reproached her for being barren. She sent mo a 

 handsome present, and proclaimed that T possessed, a medicine 



