144 Proceedings of Boyal Society of Edinhurgh. [sess. 
resemble the gipsies, having no fixed dwelling, but making them- 
selves at home wherever they may be. They practise incantations 
to drive away the evil spirits which are supposed to have taken up 
their abode in sick people. In treating disease they employ many 
herbs, roots, and the bark of trees ; they also apply the actual 
cautery, and cup their patients. Some of the medicine-men act as 
singers and dancers at festivities. They also prepare amulets and 
charms to ward off disease and death. They receive as payment for 
their services either beads, tanned skins, or cattle. 
Casati says that the natives eat butterflies and insects to cure 
colds in the chest, and crocodile fat and dung is sometimes used as 
a cure for rheumatism. 
Reproduction .^ — A lingering labour is hastened by rubbing the 
abdomen. If the head presents, it is considered to be a favourable 
sign. A footling forebodes a misfortune to the family. If a cross- 
birth occurs, turning is attempted by men, who receive payment for 
their services. If a woman dies before delivery, abdominal section 
is at once performed, and the child whether living or dead removed; 
the omission of this operation would be punished by the chief of 
the district with a heavy fine of cattle, goats, or even women, as it is 
believed that such a proceeding would entail ill-luck on the village. 
Post-partum hsemorrhage carries off many of the women ; it is pro- 
bably caused by attempts to remove a retained placenta, Sometimes, 
if the placenta does not come away readily, the abdomen is pressed 
or kneaded with a broad-ended pole. This pole is cut the convenient 
length, and placing one end on the ground, the woman presses the 
other against her abdomen ; then swaying her body gently back- 
wards and forwards or from side to side, she makes a rhythmical 
pressure on the fundus uteri. The umbilical cord is cut long and 
tied round the body of the child until it shrivels and falls off ; to 
hasten separation it is rubbed with fat. Ligature of the umbilical 
cord is unknown. The placenta of a male child is buried in the 
house on the inner right-hand side of the door ; that of a female 
child on the inner left-hand side. The child is washed in tepid 
water and then rubbed with a mixture of red clay and fat. It is 
not customary for the mother or child to leave the hut until the 
umbilical cord has fallen off, nor may the mother shave herself. 
* For most of this information I am indebted to Emin Pasha. 
