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WITCH DOCTORS OF SOUTH AFRICA.

THOSE skilled in the ancient lore which describes the " Dar-danice aI,tes" of earlier times will find a special interest in areport by Dr. J. P. Fitzgerald, Superintendent of Native Hos-pitals in South Africa, of the means taken by the Witch Doctorsof the interior to cure a child affected with tumour of the jaw,who subsequently came under his care. This report, made tothe Government, was justly thought by the Lieut.-Governorto be of sufficient value to be printed as a "GovernmentNotice." The details are of grotesque interest. The reportruns thus :-

Gushinduka, a Tambookie native, belonging to the ChiefJoe, living beyond the Bashee, having in vain consulted ten ofthe most distinguished members of the native faculty about atumour which was growing on the upper jaw of his child,pushing up the lip, undertook a journey to King William’sTown, a distance of about 120 miles, to consult the medicalofficers of the Native Hospital.Gushinduka stated that the tumour had been growing about

three years. The first doctor he consulted was Dr. Slegasa, aFingo doctor of the Umbo tribe, of great repute in the country.He sent two assegais as a fee with the messenger to request hisprofessional aid. The doctor responded to the call, and pre-sented himself in full costume, with a baboon’s skin on hishead, a kaross of wild animals’ skins round his waist, and cows’tails round his arms, his face having been previously spottedwith some black pigment.

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On the arrival of the doctor, and before he examined thepatient, a cow was slaughtered, of which the doctor and hisattendants plentifully partook, in order to strengthen thestomach, and make him more powerful in his exertions for thepatient. This is a most important part of the proceeding, andit is supposed that the more liberal the friends are, and the

larger the fees, the more attentive and successful will thedoctor be in his attendance on the sick person. The doctor

having fortified the inward man, proceeded to investigate thecause of the complaint, by assembling the people for a witchdance. They collected in a ring, and the doctor commenceddancing in the centre, and sniffing up the air with his nostrils;after dancing some time, invoking the spirits, he listened at-tentively to what they had to say, and then pronounced hisopinion as follows :-

" The child dropped one of its teeth one day while playingwith another child; that this child took up the tooth and gaveit to its mother, who delivered it to a river snake, and that thissnake caused the tumour to grow:on the child’s jaw; and alsothat the snake had still possession of the said tooth; and fur.ther that the snake lived in a hole in the bank of the river."

This woman was suspected of having done this out of revenge,because Gushinduka, the father of the child, caught her twicestealing mealies in his garden : the first time he forgave her ;the second time he made her pay one of those karosses withchains down the back.The doctor was requested by the father to proceed to the

river and recover the tooth-a step all-important for the cureof the disease ; and he gave him another assegai, as a fee forhis trouble. The doctor, after searching for some time, said hecould not succeed, as the snake had departed with the tooth tosome other part of the river. He then said he should applysome medicine to the tumour, which proved, however, ineffec-tual. This doctor soon took his leave of the patient, declaringhis inability to cure the disease owing to the snake havingpossession of the tooth.

Dr. Queleshe, a Pandomise doctor, was next consulted. He

was a man in extensive practice, and enjoying considerablereputation; in fact, both he and Dr. Slegasa had often toundertake extensive journeys on professional business. Thefirst fee sent in this instance to call Dr. Queleshe was a goat.The doctor answered the call, and presented himself with a

jackall’s tail on his forehead, and his face spotted with blackpigment. Dr. Queleshe also had a witch dance ; and when itwas concluded, he said that the spirits of the child’s grand-father and relations who were dead were in want of food, andthat Gushinduka had never killed cattle for this purpose; thatthose spirits were angry on this account, and that it would benecessary, in order to propitiate them, to kill a bullock. Thiswas done, and the entire ox cooked and eaten by the assembledpeople. The doctor had the head, together with the entireinside and a large supply of the flesh, set aside for himself andhis attendants. The spirits of the departed friends who hadcaused the tumour to grow on the child’s jaw were supposed tojoin in the feast. This sacrifice to the spirits had no effect,however, on the tumour, which continued the same ; and Dr.Queleshe, having applied some medicine to the tumour, re-turned home. After the lapse of a few days the father appliedagain to Dr. Queleshe; but the doctor said he was unable todo any more for the child.

Dr. Oli, a Kaffir doctor, was next consulted. He gave it ashis opinion that some spirits which were in alliance with thechild’s aunt (a different order of spirits from those of relationsor friends) had done the mischief, because the aunt would notgive her consent that those spirits should take the child, towhich they had taken a fancy. The doctor then said that the

spell should be broken, and all alliance between the womanand the spirits put an end to, otherwise the child would notget well. The woman was then taken to a place at some dis-tance from the kraal, stripped of her clothes, and washed withsome medicine. She was not allowed to take back her clothes,which were left in the bush. She was also given some medicineto chew and spit about in the air, in order to chase the spiritsaway; and when she went to sleep at night, she was to bitesome of the root, and spit about, in order to drive those spiritsaway which used to visit her in her dreams.But notwithstanding the prescriptions of these three emi-

nent native doctors, no change was effected; in the disease,which continued undiminished in size.

This child was taken into the Native Hospital, put underchloroform, and the tumour with a small portion of jaw-boneexcised. The child has recovered, and has left with its fatherfor the Tambookie country, the deformity of the face havingbeen removed.Gushinduka paid three cows, four goats, and five assegais,

as medical fees in this case to native doctors.

THE INFLUENCE OF RAILWAY TRAVELLINGON HEALTH.

REPUBLISHED by Mr. Hardwicke, of Piccadilly, in the formof a shilling volume, THE LANCET " Report on the Influenceof Railway Travelling on Public Health" is now extending tothe wide circle of railway travellers generally the importantdata which it was the primary object to collect for the infor-mation of the medical profession, who are the proper guidesand arbiters in respect of the questions raised. The Corn7iill

Magazine gives this month the aid of its large circulation andgreat popularity to the ventilation of this subject, so intimatelyconnected with public hygiene. The courteous appreciation oftheir labours cannot fail to afford satisfaction not less to theeminent men who so freely yielded for the professional discus-sion of these questions the large stores of their experience andthe suggestions derivable from it, than to the able reporters wholent us their aid in indicating lines of inquiry, and in collect-ing, condensing, and drawing conclusions from the data afforded.The general utility of this report will increase in proportion asits suggestive collection of facts are more widely considered byvarious minds. The last word is far from having been said;but already enough has been learned to dispel groundless alarms,suggest much-needed cautions, and to substitute facts for vagnetheories.