Life at Ribe. 
and confidence they take our drugs. No suspicion of 
poisoning ever seems to cross their minds. Whatever 
you give them they swallow without hesitation, and 
smack their lips at the bitterest draught ; indeed the 
more nauseous the medicine is the better they like it ; 
for in their minds its virtue must be in proportion to 
its '^ustungu," (bitterness). Under an operation of 
dentistry they sit with marvellous coolness, and endure 
the wrench and crash without a groan. But cruel as 
the operation is in civiHzed fashion, it is far more 
merciful than the native mode ; and as it is equally 
effective they appreciate the advantage. The native 
method is as follows : the patient is placed upon 
the ground, his head supported between the knees of 
a friend. The dentist then applies a "kitsoka" (small 
axe, Hke a chisel) stonemason-fashion, to the tooth 
which is to be removed ; with the other hand he 
grasps a large stone for a mallet, and with that drives 
away at the tooth till it is loosened, and can be taken 
out of its socket with the finders ! 
We have all kinds of patients brought to us. The 
deaf, the dumb, the stone-blind, those affected with 
various kinds of leprosy, and now and then even the 
raving mad ! On one occasion, being outside the 
house, I heard strange, unearthly cries issuing from 
my own room. Proceeding thither, I found it taken 
possession of by a crowd of natives, all of whom were 
entire strangers to me. They were standing over a 
woman who lay at full length, with face downwards, 
upon the floor. She screamed, and howled, and 
whined in the most horrible fashion. It was a case of 
furious madness ; her friends said she was possessed 
of unclean spirits, and entreated that I would cast 
I 
