Mr. Sconten, writing from Kambui, East Central Africa, was an
eye-witness of the following treatment for malarial fever of a lad and
a girl, by a native medicine doctor:
A hole in the ground was lined with banana-leaves and some water
brought. Part of the water was poured on the ground beside the
patients, and the rest was poured into the hole. The intestines
of a sheep were emptied of their filth and the foreheads and
palms of the sufferers and their relations smeared with it. The
lad and girl were tied together by the feet with a vine, while
the man mixed some colored powders in the water. The stomach of
the sheep was then brought, and through a hole in the side the
patients were made to suck in the fluid contents, and cast the
rest into the colored water. Then, taking a bunch of herbs, the
doctor lifted a good portion of the concoction and placed it in
the mouth of each patient with a singsong monotone, saying: “By
this I take away all the evil effects of whatever is troubling
you, the attacks of evil spirits, whatever poison you may have
eaten, whatever harm has been inflicted upon you by blacksmiths,
whatever evil has come to you in the path, whatever disease
has been brought upon you through your friends, whatever has
been inflicted upon you by your enemies, and all disease with
which God has afflicted you.” This was not all that he said,
and he repeated it three times, all the while dipping from the
nauseating mixture and putting it into the patients’ mouths. A
foot of the sheep was then dipt into the remaining fluid and the
ground sprinkled all around them, and their bodies sprinkled.
Lastly, noses, thumbs and great toes were painted with white
paint and they were untied, and told to go and get well. Both
patients were in a dying condition the next day, while the
medicine-man was feasting upon the good flesh of the slaughtered
sheep.
(986)
* * * * *
When the first missionaries visited Marsovan, Turkey, the old
Armenian church-members were Christians in little more than
name. Their beliefs were a mixture of superstitions with a
suggestion of a Christian origin. They feared the evil eye, and
wore charms to break its power. They put branches of a thorny
plant over their chimneys in the form of a cross to prevent
witches from coming down and strangling their little children.
They visited the graves of saints and offered prayers for relief
from sickness, tying a rag on a near-by bush with the hope of
returning home leaving their disease tied to the holy spot.
(987)
See BIRTH CEREMONIES; DEMONOLOGY.