196 



CHOLERA. 



Hard water charged with lime and various 

 salts, combined with want of vegetables, renders 

 constipation a common ailment at Zanzibar. 

 Amongst the rich it mostly arises from indolence, 

 and from the fact that all are greatly addicted 

 to aphrodisiacs. The favourite is a pill com- 

 posed of 3 grains of ambergris, and 1 grain of 

 opium, the latter ingredient in the case of an 

 6 Afimi ' (opium-eater) must be proportioned to 

 his wants. 



' Doctors ' in my day were unknown at Zan- 

 zibar. Eormerly, two Indians practised ; since 

 their departure the people killed and cured 

 themselves. Amongst Arabs, and indeed Mos- 

 lems generally, every educated man has a smat- 

 tering of the healing art. H. H. the late Sayyid 

 was a 6 hakim 1 of great celebrity. A physician 

 is valuable on the Island; throughout the African 

 interior he is valueless in a pecuniary sense, as 

 every patient expects to be kept and fed. The 

 midwives are usually from Cutch ; Arabs, how- 

 ever, rarely consent to professional assistance. 

 The Prince kept in his establishment two sages 

 femmes from Maskat. 



