328 
Anna Regina's Female Apothecary. 
fault of uij own, the first consiigniiient of living orchids to Berlin had 
suffered. The necessary articles of trade were soon purchased and 
packed in the schooner belonging to Anna Kegina, one of the largest 
plantations on the fertile Arabian Coast: the vessel was just then lying 
in the harbour and wanted to get back. A letter of introduction from 
Mr. Stutehbury to the estate's manager. Mr. Hughs [?Hughes], secured 
a most hearty reception for me. Tlie memories of Mr. Hughes were 
among tlic most pleasant tliat I took witli me to Europe. I found him to 
be wot only a liiglily cnltnred but also a very lioiioiiraltle man and 
fi'iend. In the course of my several days' stay with him, I Avas witness 
of a laughable scene that has never obliterated itself from my remem- 
bran« (\ A common complaint w hicli especially affects Negro children 
is that of woi-ms.* A radical cure for getting i-id of them is supplied 
l»y the liiow II setae from the seed-covering of the MiiciiiKt n7'ens DeC. the 
"Cow Itch" of tlie Colonists. These fine elastic stinging hairs produce 
on the skin an intolerable itching sensation, iiractically almost an in- 
flammation, lint ])ossess the excellent pi'operty of completely ex])elling 
the worms out of their hosts. The hairs are shaved off the covering and 
to render them innocuous are mixed and j'ublied up in syrup until such 
time as the mass takes on the consistency of a thin electuaTy, when they 
become snpjde and harmless to the gums. As a matter of fact, children 
are usually given every three months n ouy>ful. which is repeated on the 
following morning. 
7f).'>. At Anna Regina T saw this medicine being distributed. I have 
alrea<ly mentioned that the labourers on an estate are supplied with free 
surgical and medical attendance. One morning I noticed in the vard 
in front of the infirmary more than a hundred Negro children, and 
mothers v^-ith sucklings in their arms, standing in a circle round a fat old 
scolding Negress, whom T had already been told was the estate's 
apothecary. A laigc two-liandled tiili filled with the flectuarv' alcove 
described, stood in front of her: in her hand she held a large «spoon with 
which, in her own peculiar phlegmatic way, she shoved it under protest in- 
to the boys' and girls' mouths. I never saw anything more 
laughable than this general physicking all round. The solici- 
tude with Avhich the l)lack boys and girls di-ew near 
to the dispenser and — knowing full well from previous 
experience the danger of the n)edicine and the pains which it caused if 
one of tlie liairs. not rendered pliant enotigh by the syrup, remained stuck 
in the lijis. gums, or tongue — o])en(^(l tln'ir mouths as wide as thev 
possibly could to prevent this, while the Negress, not in the slightest 
degree mindful, continued shovelling in the spoon without respite; or 
when a mother forcibly and with a beating dragged up .a son or daughter 
who perha])S had learnt all about the frightful pains at the last distribu- 
tion, to come and receive the gift, — all this combined, struck me as being 
so extremely comic that I did not know where to turn. Who could stop 
*This is still true. Probably 8U to W pei- cent of these chilrlren are infected with Ascaris 
lumhricoide.t, a somewhat siualler proportiim with Oxunrix veriniciilaris iu\A Trichim-vs trivhiura 
and a still smaller pro[)ortioii with Secator americanus s.i\d Arwhylostommn duodenale {- hook- 
woiiu "). C»f the efficacy of " Cow-itch " as a \ ermifuge I have no knowledge, (F.O.R.) 
