Chap. XXXI. 
NATIVE MEDICINES. 
649 
same plant employed by a tribe a thousand miles distant. This 
surely must arise from some inherent virtue in the plant. The 
Boers under Potgeiter visited Delgoa Bay for the first time 
about ten years ago, in order to secm^e a port on the east coast 
for their republic. They had come from a part of the interior 
where the disease called croup occasionally prevails. There was 
no appearance of the disease amongst them at the period of their 
visit, but the Portuguese inhabitants of. that bay found that 
they had left it among them, and several adults were cut oft 
by a form of the complaint called Laryngismus stridulus, the 
disease of which the great Washingfon died. Similar cases have 
occurred in the South Sea Islands. Ships have left diseases, from 
which no one on board was suffering at the time of their visit. 
Many of the ioliabitants here, were cut down, usually in three 
days from then: first attack, until a native doctor adopted the 
plan of scratching the root of the tongue freely with a certain 
root, and giving a piece of it to be chewed. The cure may have 
been effected by the scarification only, but the Portuguese have 
the strongest faith in the virtues of the root, and always keep 
some of it within reach. 
There are also other plants which the natives use in the treat¬ 
ment of fever, and some of them produce diaphoresis in a short 
space of time. It is certain that we have got the knowledge of 
the most potent febrifuge in our pharmacopoeia from the natives 
of another country. We have no cure for cholera and some other 
diseases. It might be worth the investigation of those who visit 
Africa to try and find other remedies in a somewhat similar 
way to that in which we found the quinine.'^ 
* I add the native names of a few of their remedies in order to assist the 
inquirer :—Mupanda panda: this is used in fever for producing perspiration ; 
the leaves are named Chirussa; the roots dye red and are very astringent. 
Goho or Go6 : this is the ordeal medicine; it is both purgative and emetic. 
Miituva or Mutlimhue : this plant contains so much oil that it serves as lights 
in Londa; it is an emollient drink for the cure of coughs, and the pounded 
leaves answer as soap to wash the head. Nyamucu ucu has a curious soften¬ 
ing effect on old dry grain. Mussakasi is believed to remove the effects 
of the God. Mudama is a stringent vermifuge. Mapubuza dyes a red colour. 
Musikizi yields an oil. Shinkondo : a virulent poison ; the Maravi use it in 
their ordeal, and it is Very fatal. Kanunka utare is said to expel serpents and 
rats by its pungent smell, which is not at all disagreeable to man; this is 
probably a kind of Zanthoxylon, perhaps the Z. melancantha of Western 
