Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1896 — THE KAFFIR DOCTOR. [ARTICLE]

THE KAFFIR DOCTOR.

Queer Method* and Remedies ®f Natal Medicine Men. In Natal, native physicians are divided into two classes—medicine and herbalists. The former, known to their fellows as “Izinyanga zo ,kwe lapa,” are especially proficient jh the healing art; while the latter, rejoicing in the name of “Izinyanga zemeti,” effect their cures through the medium of herbs with medicinal proprieties, of which there are over 100 species in the colony known to the natives. One of the most frequent eases with which a native doctor has to deal is snake bite, and for this there are at least a dozen herbal antidotes, the chief of which is the root of the aster asper, a small plant somewhat like the daisy, with lilaccolored flowers. It has been used with success by hunters on their dogs when snake-bitten, but the secret of the Infallible remedy for thedeadllestsnakebite is said to died with Cetewayo, who had a gray powder which never failed to euro. Herbs for cattle diseases are plentiful, but so far none of them has stemmed the onslaughts of rinderpest. The isl-nwnzi is a favorite remedy’ for “red-water” in cattle, and is also employed as an eye salve, and to its milky sap the late Sir Theophilus Shepstone was indebted for the preservation of valuable horse which had got some of the blinding of the euphorbia into - hie eye. The most popular plant, however, is the u-mondl, whose aromatic roofs act as a very wholesome tonic. It is on the point of extinction in the colony, and a large price Is now paid for its roots. When called in, the doctor receives a fee known as “ulugxa,” varying from three shillings to a half guinea, according to his standing. Should a cure result a further fee is claimable, but failure to cure is unrewarded by payment beyond the call fee. Every doctor has to take out a license to practice from the magistrate or'administrator of native law in the district, which must be favorably Indorsed by the chief of his or her (for lady doctors have existed from time immemorial among the Kaffirs) kraal. For this license a payment of £3 Is made, and the holder is immediately removed from the list of practicing physicians If so rash as to sell, or profess to possess love philtres or charms to soothe the savafje breast. And in the code of native law male and female diviners and other quacks, such ns rain or lightning doctors, are expressly forbidden to practice the black art. Though practically extinct in the colony, the profession of dream doctor was in full swing in Zululand prior to the dethronement of Cetewayo, and they pretended to detect and “smell out” any one guilty of malpractices—a convenient method of doing away with awkward relatives and opponents. Chaka himself assumed the office of dream doctor, and in pursuit of his profession (?) on one occasion brutally murdered no fewer than 400 women, for mere lust of blood. His last words were in keeping with his assumed role of a diviner, for, as he expired at the hands of Dlflgaan’s assegais, he exclaimed: “You think you will rule this country when I am gone; but I see the white man coming and he will be your master.”