1891 - 92 .] Dr R. W. Felkin on the Wanyoro Trite. 
143 
Diarrhoea is common, and I saw several cases which I believed to be 
enteric fever. Headache is not very common ; it is treated by 
cupping over the temples. Acute mania certainly occurs, but it 
appears to be of a transitory character. The individual afflicted 
with mental abberration often runs away and hides in the forest ; if 
caught, he is compelled to drink large quantities of a decoction made 
from herbs and roots, which induces sleep and profuse sweating. I 
collected a number of specimens of these simples, but I had to leave 
them at Lado on account of difficulties of transit. Small-pox is 
much dreaded, as it causes a great mortality at times. Partial isola- 
tion of the patient is practised, the pustules are opened with a sharp 
thorn and the patient is washed, but the treatment- is apparently 
not very successful. Epilepsy is as frequently seen as in Uganda, 
and occurs chiefly in girls. No treatment is known ; girls sufi'ering 
from this affection are difficult to get married, and anyone willing to 
take them off their fathers’ hands can do so without giving a dowry. 
Skin diseases are very common in Unyoro, and this is rather surpris- 
ing, as on the whole the people are cleanly, although their habitations 
are not well kept. Rheumatism, lumbago, and sciatica are frequently 
met with j the actual cautery is a favourite application. I never 
heard of a case of toothache. Leprosy is known in Unyoro, but does 
not appear to be very common ; its hereditary nature is recognised, 
but this is not the case with regard to epilepsy. Venereal diseases 
are frequently seen; their introduction is said to date from Kamrasi’s 
time, and they were brought into the country from east to west some 
forty years ago. Diseases of the eye and blindness are very rare. 
Wounds heal rapidly and amputation is known; at anyrate the 
great chief Rionga showed me a boy whose arm he had amputated 
in the middle third on account of its having been shattered by a 
gunshot. 
“Earth-eating” is practised in Unyoro, sometimes as a remedy 
for disease, but often to satisfy a simple craving. If long continued, 
it is said to cause discoloration of the skin and hair, emaciation and 
death. Hereditary cannibalism is known, and girls from such a 
family will rarely find a husband. Nightmare is known, and dreams 
thought to foretell coming events. 
Medicine men and women often travel about the country, gaily 
dressed with bead ornaments and numbers of charms. They 
