CHAP. Til. 
THE WITCH-DOCTOR. 
41 
the flesh. He had great pain all over his body, but 
particularly between the shoulders, and had paid several 
4 witch-doctors ’ so many head of cattle to rid him of 
the evil spirits, but could get no relief. It becoming 
the common talk amongst the officers of the post, our 
English doctor went to see him, and declared him to 
be suffering from acute rheumatism. He would not, 
however, hear of any treatment by the white man, but 
sent for a celebrated witch-doctor from the interior of 
the country. This hag at last presented herself, and 
the imagination could hardly picture such a hideous 
creature. Medusa must have been a beauty in com¬ 
parison. She was wizened, with thin legs and body, 
except that part below the belt, which stood out like a 
barrel-organ ; and the bosoms, the great charm of the 
fair sex, were in her the most repulsive feature of all; in 
fact they were mere leather bags, the one hanging 
down far below where her waist ought to have been, 
and the other thrown over her shoulder. Her eyes were 
like those of the cobra, her hair a tangled mass of 
close clotted wool, like that of an uncombed poodle, 
with fishes’ bladders and the insides of reptiles tied 
to each point or extremity of her tangled locks. This 
she-devil, or witch-doctor, first commenced to ‘smell 
out ’ the bewitching matter. This she did in a variety 
of ways, by crawling about the hut and round it out¬ 
side, by making piles of cow-dung and burning 
