116 BUSHMEN'S POISONS. Chap. VIII, 



The poison used by our present friends was the entrails of a 

 caterpillar called N'gwa, half an inch long. They squeeze 

 the virulent matter upon the barb, and leave it to dry in the 

 sun. They are very careful in cleaning their nails after the 

 operation, for if a small portion gets into a scratch the agony 

 is excessive. The sufferer cuts himself, calls for his mother's 

 breast, as if in imagination he had returned to the days of his 

 infancy, and often flies from human habitations, a raging 

 maniac. The effects on the lion are equally terrible. He is 

 heard moaning in distress, and bites the trees and ground in 

 his fury. 



The Bushmen have the reputation of being able to neutral- 

 ise the poison. This they said they effected by administering 

 the caterpillar itself in combination with fat, at the same 

 time rubbing fat into the wound. " The N'gwa," they 

 explained, " wants fat, and, when it does not find it in the 

 body, kills the man ; we give it what it wants, and it is con- 

 tent." Father Pedro, a Jesuit, who li^ed at Zumbo, made a 

 balsam, from a number of plants and castor oil, which is asserted 

 to be a remedy for poisoned arrow-wounds. It is probable he 

 derived the essential part of his prescription from the natives, 

 and tbat the reputed efficacy of the balsam is owing to its 

 fatty constituent. In the case of a bite from a serpent, a 

 small key ought to be pressed down firmly on the puncture to 

 force out the poison until a cupping-glass can be got from one 

 of the natives, when the exhaustion of the air over the wound 

 will produce a still freer flow. If stung by a scorpion, a 

 watch-key will serve to squeeze out the virus, and a mixture 

 of fat or oil and ipecacuanha relieves the pain. 



The poison in most general use is the milky juice of the 

 tree euphorbia (E. arborescens). This is particularly deadly 

 to the equine race, and when a quantity is mixed with the 

 water of a pond a whole herd of zebras will fall dead before 

 they have moved away two miles. On oxen or men it only 

 acts as a purgative. In some places the venom of serpents 

 and a certain bulb, Amaryllis toxicaria, are added, in order tc 

 increase the virulence. 



Believing that frequent change of place was conducive to 

 the recovery of the sick, we moved as much as we could, and 

 came to the hill N'gwa Hat. 18° 27' 20" S., long. 24° 13' 36" 



