NATIVE REMEDIES FOR FEVER. l8l 



of fever follow. The usual symptoms of stopped secretion 

 are manifested — shivering and a feeling of coldness, though 

 the skin is quite hot to the touch of another. The heat 

 in the axilla, over the heart and region of the stomach, 

 was in my case ioo° ; but along the spine and at the 

 nape of the neck 103 . The internal processes were all, 

 with the exception of the kidneys and liver, stopped ; the 

 latter, in its efforts to free the blood of noxious particles 

 often secretes enormous quantities of bile. There were 

 pains along the spine, and frontal headache. Anxious to 

 ascertain whether the natives possessed the knowledge of 

 any remedy of which we were ignorant, I requested the 

 assistance of one of Sekeletu's doctors. He put some 

 roots into a pot with water, and, when it was boiling, 

 placed it on a spot beneath 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 vapour arising from them as an auxiliary 

 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 vapour-baths,, 

 smoked like a red-herring over green twigs and charmed 

 secundem artem, I concluded 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 stimu- 

 lating effects on the alimentary canal, as these means have 

 on the external surface. Purgatives, general bleedings, 

 or indeed any violent remedies, are injurious ; and the 

 appearance of a herpetic eruption near the mouth is 

 regarded as an evidence that no internal 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 proceed to the Cape, I might have food to eat when I 

 returned as well as other people. The maize was now 

 pounded by the women into fine meal. This they do in 

 large wooden mortars, the exact counterpart of which may 

 be seen depicted 011 the Egyptian monuments. Sekeletu 



