142 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. V. 
country. They also manifest considerable skill in the use 
of them; but still many sufferers are met with whom more 
efficient medical skill might relieve or restore. The fever 
which prevails at certain seasons of the year, especially near 
the coasts, is the most fearful malady to which they are 
liable ; and natives from the interior, as well as strangers from 
abroad, are alike subject to its attacks; while the people 
themselves know of no specific or effectual mode of treatment 
for it. 
Their remedies are in general effectual in the cure of the 
bites or stings of the smaller kinds of venomous reptiles and 
insects, though at times these are such as to occasion great 
suffering. I once found a large scorpion on my pillow; at 
another time, some large centipedes in one of my boxes. The 
largest I saw crawled out from the framework of the table 
at which I was writing; but I escaped injury from all. The 
bite of the scorpion, I was informed, was exceedingly severe, 
and the poisonous effects long continued. One day I was 
startled by cries of pain in the house opposite to that in 
which I dwelt, and was soon afterwards sent for by the chief 
residing there to see his wife, who, in great suffering and 
alarm, was crying out, “ I shall die, I shall die ! ? A number 
of her neighbours were gathered round the mat on which she 
was sitting. Her husband, who was supporting her, informed 
me that, while gathering fish on the reef, she had been stung 
in the hand by a small poisonous fish, which they had caught 
and brought for me to see. There were three punctures in 
the woman’s thumb, and her hand and arm were swollen and 
discoloured. Although bathed with oil and other remedies, 
the pain and inflammation continued until the next day, when 
the swelling abated and the poor woman recovered. 
There are several poisonous kinds of fish among the reefs 
and rocks near the shore, and their bite or sting is said to be 
sometimes fatal. There are also serpents in the island, of 
