CLIMATE--COOKERY--DRUNKENNESS--FEVER--NATIVE
TREATMENT--ULCERS--SMOKING WILD-HEMP--NATIVE REMEDIES.
The climate of Angola is not so hot as might be expected from its
latitude. Near the coast the sea-breeze, which sets in about nine or
ten o’clock in the morning, and lasts till sunset or an hour later,
always blows strongly, and consequently cools the burning rays of the
sun in the hot season: it is very often too strong to be agreeable,
blowing everything about in the houses, which always have the doors and
windows open. The thermometer in the hot season is seldom more than
80° to 86° Fahrenheit in the shade during the day; 90° and over is not
often attained. In the “cacimbo,” or cool season, the usual temperature
is 70° to 75° Fahrenheit, and at night as low as 60° to 65°. The
nights are always cool, and for not less than six months in the year a
blanket on the bed at night is found comfortable.
Towards the interior, away from the influence of the sea-breeze, the
temperature is rather higher, but soon the greater elevation of the
country lowers it, so that the thermometer ranges about the same.
Rain only falls in the hot season, or from the end of October to
the beginning or middle of May, when violent storms with but little
wind deluge the country. There is generally a cessation of the rains
during the month of January and part of February; the last rains are
the heaviest, and seldom occur after the 12th or 15th of May. During
the cool or “cacimbo” season, the sun is often not visible for days
together, a thick uniform white sky preventing its position being seen
at any time of the day. A thick white mist covers the ground at night,
and in the mornings valleys and low places are completely enshrouded in
it.
As the wind and sun dissipate these rolling vapours, very beautiful
effects are seen, particularly among the valleys and mountains in
the interior. When looking down into a deep valley, the mist is
exactly like a cloud of steam from a locomotive. The “cacimbo” is the
best season for Europeans newly arrived on the coast, but is always
disagreeably felt by those who have lived in the country for some
years, the sudden fall of the thermometer checking the action of the
skin. It has a very depressing effect on old stagers, who are then more
than usually disinclined for any kind of work, bodily or mental. To new
comers, apt to be distressed by heat, the cool season is delicious, as
it enables them to go about freely, carry a gun, work, &c., without
protection from the sun.
The climate of the coast of Africa is everywhere more or less
enervating, and it requires the exercise of a strong will and
determination to overcome its influence, and resist the natural
tendency to produce inactivity of mind and body. This being the case
when in perfect health, it can easily be imagined how much more this is
required when a touch of fever, however slight, still further enfeebles
the system.
I am not competent to speak medically on the subject of the action of
the African climate and fevers on Europeans, which I believe to be very
difficult and obscure, but a few detached facts and observations I have
noted may be interesting. I fancy there must be something in the action
of an atmosphere so completely saturated with moisture, to account for
the sensation of exhaustion and prostration that is felt in Africa at
any bodily exertion, generally accompanied by a clammy perspiration.
I have felt this more especially in the cool or rainless but misty
season, when the air is, I believe, even more saturated with moisture
than in the rainy season with its almost daily storms, but bright
atmosphere, blue sky, and hot sun.
Keys or penknives in use, and kept constantly in the pocket, get
rusty to an extraordinary degree, and steel-springs of every kind
become brittle and break very readily; I never saw a shot-pouch or
powder-flask of which the spring did not very shortly snap in two,
sometimes even before it had become rusty, and when only a thin line or
streak of rust could be seen on it.
For the first few months after arrival, Europeans have enormous
appetites, and all increase in weight;--it is very rarely that fever
attacks those first arriving on the South-West Coast.
Persons of a nervous temperament, of a thin, active, muscular habit of
body, and not above medium height, I have found to be the most likely
to resist the climate.
Previous good health and sobriety are no guarantees against the
probable effects of the climate, and I believe that the best and surest
indication is to be obtained not from the physical, but from the mental
constitution of the individual. Those of a light-hearted and happy
disposition, naturally disposed to make the best of circumstances, and
whom no inconveniences or annoyances can rob for long of their good
humour, are almost certain to enjoy their health on the South-West
Coast, whilst those difficult to please, who worry themselves about
every little unpleasantness, and who are irritable and unhappy under
difficulties, are soon attacked by fever and ague, although apparently
just as strong and healthy as the former.
I have always observed that an educated man has a great advantage over
one who is without education, in resisting disease on the coast; this
shows very strongly the preservative action of the healthy and active
mind.
Amongst uneducated men, I have found that Portuguese, Spaniards,
and Italians enjoy better health than Englishmen or Germans, and
have vastly more endurance and pluck in sickness than the latter. A
Portuguese working man, soldier, or convict, will roll himself up and
shiver and groan under a strong attack of fever or ague, and as soon
as it is over will quickly go about his occupation without making any
fuss or complaint, whereas the English miners, strong and powerful as
navvies when well, were, as I have said before, pitiable sights under
even a slight attack.
The reason for the greater immunity enjoyed by the natives of southern
over those of northern Europe from attacks of fever and ague, may be
due not only to the fact of that race inhabiting a hot climate, but
also to their mode of living and greater sobriety.
Their cookery is infinitely better adapted to a climate like that
of Africa than ours; their soups, stews, and made dishes more or
less highly seasoned, or condimented, give less trouble to the
stomach naturally debilitated by the action of the climate, and
present the food in a better condition for easy digestion, than the
solid ill-cooked masses of roast or boiled meat preferred by the
English--always freshly killed, and rarely of good quality or in proper
condition, from the impossibility of hanging it long enough to allow
it to get tender without being tainted. The natives of south Europe
also make great use of two vegetable products, which I consider to be
of great benefit in preserving health--the common tomato and garlic.
The former, apart from what I believe to be its valuable medicinal
properties, gives a delicious zest to every kind of cooked food from
its slightly acid taste, often transforming an uninviting dish of cold
meat, fowl, or fish, into a savoury mess, the very smell of which is
sufficient to make one’s mouth water, and raise the enfeebled appetite.
A common and very delicious dish on the coast is called “muqueca,” and
is thus prepared: the bottom of a frying-pan is covered with sliced
tomatoes, on these a layer of small fish is put, or pieces of larger
fish, and some salt; a little salad-oil is poured over the whole, and
lastly the fish is covered with thin slices of bread. No water is
added, the tomatoes and fish supplying quite enough liquid to cook the
whole, which is allowed to stew slowly till done. It should be made
hot to taste with green chilies, cut up and added with the salt. Cold
fried-fish is equally good for making a “muqueca,” which is always
served at table in the frying-pan, or, better still, flat earthen pan
in which it has been cooked. A plate or close cover over the pan whilst
cooking the “muqueca” is desirable, as it keeps in the moisture better,
and the bread becomes nice and soft in the rich gravy. The proportion
of tomato to fish is soon ascertained by practice, but it is never a
fault to have too much of the former.
Garlic I consider a most valuable article of food in a hot climate,
especially eaten raw. I never travelled without a supply of garlic, and
I found its beneficial effects on the stomach and system most marked.
When very hungry and fatigued I have found nothing to equal a few
pieces of raw garlic, eaten with a crust of bread or a biscuit, for
producing a few minutes after a delightful sensation of repose, and
that feeling of the stomach being ready to receive food, generally
absent when excessive emptiness or exhaustion is the case.
The Portuguese in Angola as a rule rarely drink anything stronger than
Lisbon red wine. Many undoubtedly drink a great deal more cold water
than is necessary or good for them, as constantly drenching the stomach
with water must weaken it greatly.
The English and other foreigners on the coast, on the contrary, make
use of too much brandy and spirits, which is a principal cause of the
sickness amongst them; but I am happy to say that drunkenness has very
greatly decreased of late years. It would not be easy to see now such
scenes as I have witnessed at Quissembo and Cabinda only a few years
ago.
I was at the former place when an Englishman died from the effects of
intemperance a few hours after his arrival from Cabinda, where a three
days’ orgie had been held to bid him good-bye previous to his return to
England.
His body was laid on a table, candles were lit all round it, and a kind
of wake held nearly all night, during which time two casks of bottled
ale and several cases of spirits were consumed amongst not more than
a dozen people. In the morning a hole was dug in the sand, and the
body, in a wooden coffin, lowered into it, whilst the few English in
the place stood around, most of them crying, and held by their black
servants to prevent them from falling into the grave, the effects of
the wake not allowing them to be sufficiently steady to stand without
assistance. An American, since dead, poor fellow! tried to read the
burial service, but he was obliged to give up the task, his utterance
being most amusingly choked with sobs and hiccups.
I have known an Englishman to invite the rest of his countrymen to
dinner on Christmas-day, and only a very small number make their
appearance, the rest having been overpowered by drink at breakfast and
during the day.
At Cabinda, on one occasion, a poor fellow who was dying was taken out
of his bed, seated on a chair at the head of the table, and his head
held up to make him drink to his own health, whilst the rest sang, “For
he is a jolly good fellow!” Next morning he was found dead and stiff
on his bed.
The reason for this disgraceful state of things must not be laid
entirely to the fault of the men or the climate, but greatly to the
false economy of the stupid and bad system of inducing a certain class
of young men to go out at a nominal salary for several years, under the
pretence of learning the African trade.
It is rather too much to expect a young man to devote his entire time
and to work hard on the coast of Africa, away from his family and every
amusement and relaxation, placed very often in a responsible situation,
and knowing that his employers are making large profits, whilst he
is earning the munificent sum of 20_l._, 30_l._, and 40_l._, for the
first, second, and third year of his engagement, and that also liable
to various deductions, and with a very remote chance of ever becoming a
head agent.
I am certain that the popular idea against the use of brandy or wine
in African travel is erroneous and very mischievous, and may be the
cause of the loss of valuable lives in future exploration if not
refuted. To the traveller in perfect health, spirits of any kind are no
doubt unnecessary, and should not be made use of at all under ordinary
circumstances, but I am decidedly of opinion that wine and water (in
equal parts) is almost a necessity, and should be taken at meals as
long as it can be procured. Lisbon red wine, which has more body but is
not stronger than claret, is unquestionably the best for this purpose.
When chilled with wet, exhausted by fatigue, or when the stomach and
bowels are deranged by the heat, or bad food and water, brandy is
worth its weight in gold, and is better and more efficacious than any
medicine. It is all very well for strong, healthy people in Europe to
cry down brandy because its use is abused, and because any fatigue
they may undergo, in a comfortable manner, is easily dispelled at a
good fire, with a cup of nice tea, buttered toast, and warm slippers;
but let them travel in Africa, perhaps drenched by rain, with clothes
and food all soaked, or weak with profuse perspiration and bad food,
stomach, &c., out of order, and gasping for breath under the hot sun,
and they will confess to the wonderfully reviving effect of a drop
of good brandy! It is almost as suicidal to travel in tropical Africa
without brandy as without quinine. Both should of course only be used
on occasions when necessary. During eight months of the rainy season,
when I was exploring the province of Cambambe, I only suffered from one
fit of ague, lasting half an hour, and an attack of simple intermittent
fever for about four hours, and my consumption of spirits for the whole
time was about a litre bottle full of brandy, but I am positive that it
saved me from illness on several occasions. The risk from the climate
to Europeans in tropical Africa is quite sufficient, without increasing
it by withholding such a valuable protection as brandy from our
explorers, simply from fear of its abuse, or in deference to popular
claptrap.
A very important rule to be observed (and invariably adopted by the
Portuguese) is to take a cup of coffee or tea immediately on rising at
daybreak. I made my miners at Benguella take a mugful of hot coffee and
a biscuit every morning before going to work, with great benefit to
them.
My whole experience on the coast has taught me no lesson more strongly
than that of immediately attending to the slightest indication of
illness or fever, and I believe that the great secret or means of
enjoying health depends almost entirely on this. It is very rarely
that a fever or ague comes on without some premonitory indisposition,
very often so slight as to be disregarded--a dryness of the mouth, or
thirst, or a nervous exhilaration, being often the forerunner of an
attack of fever.
If rest be taken (a slight aperient if necessary), and attention paid
to not exposing the body to the sun, the attack is generally slight, or
does not come on at all. If it does, cooling drinks must be plentifully
made use of, and means adopted to cause copious perspiration as it
passes off, and care taken to avoid any chill or cold.
A most important measure is to take the sulphate of quinine immediately
the pulse is reduced to its natural beat, but not before: three to five
grains are to be taken every half hour, until fifteen to twenty-five
grains have been swallowed, either in solution or made into pills with
a little camphor, and one grain of opium to twenty of sulphate of
quinine.
Any kind of cooling drink most palatable to the patient may be made
use of liberally, and only chicken or other broth as food.
This treatment in the majority of cases will suffice to stop the fever
or ague. Ten or twelve grains of quinine (in small doses) should be
given a few hours before the completion of the twenty-four hours after
the commencement of the attack, when its recurrence takes place if the
amount of quinine first given has not been sufficient to arrest it.
Should the attack come on a second time, the same treatment must be
adopted, with an increased amount of quinine. For a couple of days or
so nothing but fowl-soup, or other light nutritious food, should be
given, increasing it only as the appetite becomes fully developed, and
when it is certain that the attack has been successfully combated. A
very strong but false appetite is often developed immediately after a
fever, which it is necessary to be very careful not to satisfy with
strong food, as this would be quite sufficient to cause indigestion,
and with certainty produce a worse attack of fever, often complicated
with dangerous bilious derangement, vomiting, &c. Bilious fevers of
a bad type are comparatively rare in Angola; and if the foregoing
all-important precaution is taken, of attending carefully to a fever at
first, there is but little fear of the dangerous type.
A great deal of the sickness on the coast is entirely owing to the want
of this precaution. People get into a careless habit of going about
with a little fever on them every day, and it is only when they become
very reduced in strength, or unwell, that they call the doctor or place
themselves under proper treatment or regimen.
It is perfectly impossible to account for the origin of fevers in
Africa. They do not always depend upon the proximity of marshes or
stagnant water. They were very frequent at Bembe, where I believe
the thick forest around had something to do with their occurrence,
as it became healthier as these were gradually cleared away. Fever
is sometimes common in places near the sea, where there are neither
marshes nor forests for considerable distances.
Again, the banks of rivers may be comparatively free from fevers,
whilst at the same time places apparently least likely are suffering
from them. In any case, even in the dangerous type, there is never any
long convalescence or recovery, as happens with the agues and fevers of
the marshy places in Europe. A few days suffice to restore people to
health after an attack of African fever and ague, and in a short time
flesh and strength are picked up.
There is no effectual substitute for quinine as yet known; its use
by subcutaneous injection has not yet been adopted in Angola. Many
Portuguese have a prejudice against quinine, and in its stead make use
of a common plant called “Fedegozo” (_Cassia occidentalis_).
The root, which is excessively bitter, is made into decoction. The
seeds also are roasted and ground, and their infusion taken either
alone, or generally mixed with coffee.
The natives suffer but little from fever and ague, and then it is
generally the result of a chill, on the change from the hot to the cold
season. Their treatment almost always consists in lying quiet until
nature works her own cure, but they also make use of a strong infusion
of the leaves of the “Malulo,” an excessively bitter plant (_Vernonia
(Elephantopus) Senegalensis_).
This is a handsome, herbaceous shrub, and is curious from its habit
of being (like the nettle with us) the first to take possession
of and grow luxuriantly on all bare open places where habitations
or plantations have existed. The infusion of this plant is also
universally employed by the natives in bowel complaints. A common
method they have of curing fever is to induce strong perspiration
by squatting over an earthen pot (just removed from the fire) sunk
in a hole in the ground, in which “Herva Santa Maria” (_Chenopodium
ambrosioides_) and “Sangue-sangue” have been boiled. The patient is
well covered over, and the aromatic vapour-bath soon produces its
desired effect. I have seen blacks cured of severe attacks of fever
with one or two applications of this simple remedy. “Sangue-sangue”
is the name given to the large seed-heads of a strong, tall grass (a
species of _Cymbopogon_), which exhales a very powerful aromatic odour
when crushed.
The “Herva Santa Maria” grows very abundantly everywhere in Angola,
and, as in other warm countries where it is found, its medicinal
properties are held in great repute. It is a small annual plant,
generally about a foot and a half high, very green and bushy, and every
part of it is hotly and strongly aromatic.
In almost every complaint the natives first apply this plant as a
remedy. For internal pains of every kind it is taken as decoction,
or the crushed plant rubbed over the seat of the pain; for blows,
swellings, and bruises, a poultice of the fresh plant is employed.
When the back aches from carrying a heavy load, &c., fresh leaves are
rubbed on the spine, and a handful of the crushed plant is placed
between the skin and the waistcloth. In cases of headache, the crushed
plant is rubbed over the head, and plugs of the leaves inserted in the
capacious nostrils; for this pain they also paint the forehead with the
milky juice of the mandioca-plant, and place one or more white dots on
the temples of “pemba” or white clay. A shrub growing near streams,
called “Entuchi” (the botanical name of which I know not), the leaves
and young shoots of which, when freshly crushed, exhale a delicious
smell of bitter almonds, is also used to plug the nostrils in cases of
headache.
There is remarkably little diarrhœa or dysentery in Angola, either
amongst the natives or whites. The treatment for it adopted by the
natives consists exclusively in taking decoctions of various astringent
and aromatic plants.
The principal are “Empebi,” the aromatic seeds of the _Anona muricata_;
“Mucozo,” the thick, fleshy, rose-coloured bark of a large, handsome
fig-tree, and very strongly astringent; the “Jindungo N’Congo”
(Congo-pepper), the carpels of the _Xylopia æthiopica_, with a
disagreeable, resinous taste; “Ensacu-sacu,” the small, knobby roots
of a plant growing in marshy places, and with a strong smell of
turpentine, and the roots and stems of the Hydnora already described.
A singular disease of a dysenteric character, and peculiar to the
blacks, is called “maculo,” and is quickly fatal if not attended to
promptly, when it is easily cured. It commences with strong diarrhœa,
but its chief characteristic is the production in the anal orifice,
both internally and externally, of little ulcers containing maggots.
The native method of treatment is quickly efficacious, and consists
in plugging the orifice with a wad of crushed “Herva Santa Maria”
dipped in strong rum and ground gunpowder, and any kind of astringent
medicine is given at the same time. This disease was very prevalent
in the slave barracoons; and I was told that at the French depot at
Banana, when they shipped some thousands of blacks some years ago under
the name of “free emigrants,” the slaves were dying at the rate of
fifty and sixty each day from this disease, whilst under the care of
the French surgeons; but that when these left from ill health, and the
slaves were entrusted to the care of black medicine-men skilled in the
treatment of “maculo,” the deaths decreased immediately to a very small
number.
This disease is due to overcrowding and improper food; but change of
place will also produce it. Slaves from the interior mostly have it on
coming into possession of the white man, when it is probably induced
by the change from their usual poor food to the very much better
sustenance given them by their new masters.
Sores and ulcers on the feet and legs are extremely common, and are
troublesome to heal, whether in natives or Europeans. The blacks use a
variety of remedies, and are sometimes very successful in the cure of
stubborn cases.
I had a boy at Bembe called “Brilhante” (Brilliant), about fourteen
years of age, a fine, sharp little fellow, the son of a “capata” or
head-man of a number of carriers from the town of Musserra. A fetid
ulcer appeared on his leg, and I put him in the military hospital
under the doctor’s care, where he remained for three months without
the least improvement, although every care was taken of him, and every
remedy employed that could be thought of. At last, his father said he
would take him to the coast, and see whether the native treatment could
cure him. Two months after, he returned to Bembe, bringing me little
Brilhante perfectly cured. Our doctor was astounded, but although I
offered the boy’s father a large reward if he would obtain for me
the plants, &c., employed by the medicine-man, he never did. Their
principal remedy, however, is powdered malachite, with or without
lime-juice. Lime-juice is also used by itself, or with powdered
“mubafo” or gum elemi, which is very abundant in the Mushicongo
country. Poultices and decoctions made of crushed “Herva Santa Maria,”
and of various other plants, are also applied to the sores, which are
protected from dust and flies by a piece of rag, or very often by a
light shield made from a piece of dry gourd. Ointments are never made
use of by the natives in the treatment of ulcers, and they are not much
in favour with the Portuguese.
From the sudden fall of the high temperature of the hot season to the
“cacimbo” the natives, as might be expected, suffer most from diseases
of the respiratory organs. No provision whatever is made by the bulk of
the natives against this great change, and the quick transition from
the clear warm nights of the hot season to the cold wet ones of the
“cacimbo,” when the ground is covered with a heavy mist, tells on their
nearly naked and unprotected bodies with terribly fatal effect. In
fact, by far the greater part of the blacks die from this cause; and so
true is this, that it is rare to see a white-headed native in Angola.
There is no doubt that this is a wise provision of nature for keeping
down the otherwise excessive numbers of the human animal in that
country, and it is certainly more natural and merciful than the
supplementary measures adopted by themselves, of poisoning by “casca”
or otherwise killing one another for “fetish” or witchcraft, or in
times of famine. Should the negro race ever be civilized, they must
be taught to be more industrious, or else means must be adopted to
enable the teeming millions to seek work and food in other countries;
subjects, I am afraid but too little regarded by philanthropists in
their present anxious solicitude for the welfare of these lazy, happy
brutes.
It is a wonderful scene when travelling with a caravan in the “cacimbo”
season, to see perhaps two or three hundred blacks wake up in the
cold misty mornings, and crouch in circles of ten or a dozen together
round a fire, shivering and chattering their teeth. It is then that
they enjoy smoking the “diamba” (_Cannabis sativa_), which is the name
they give to the wild-hemp, the flowering tops of which are collected
and dried for this purpose. It is burnt in a straight clay-pipe bowl
inserted in the closed end of a long gourd, in which is contained a
small quantity of water, and through which the smoke is forced and
washed when the open end of the gourd is put to the mouth and suction
applied. (Plate XIV.) Four or six long deep inspirations from the gourd
are as much as a man can bear of the disagreeable acrid smoke, which
makes them cough and expectorate as if their lungs were coming out of
their mouths. The gourd is rapidly passed from one to another in each
circle, and the mighty chorus of violent coughing and hawking lasts for
about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. The effects of the wild hemp
(from which the “hasheesh” of other countries is prepared) are curious,
and appear to be different from those described as attending its use
in other parts of the world. There is no intoxicating effect produced,
but, on the contrary, the blacks affirm that it wakes them up and warms
their bodies, so that they are ready to start up with alacrity, take up
their loads, and trot off quickly.
Natives who smoke “diamba” immoderately, and make themselves slaves
to the habit, have their brains affected in time, and become stupid
and listless. When they arrive at this stage, they are “fetished” like
drunkards. The Portuguese prohibit their slaves from indulging in this
habit. The plant is cultivated round the huts everywhere in Angola,
but except in the cold season diamba-smoking is not very general.
The natives have no efficient remedies or treatment for bronchitis,
pleurisy, and pneumonia, from which they suffer so much and so fatally
in the cold season. They chew the stem of a kind of rush growing in
streams and marshy places, the juice of which has an agreeable taste of
acetic acid, and make a few emulcent drinks from the leafless parasite
_Cassytha_, a large mallow, and the seed-heads of the sangue-sangue;
these, and rubbing the chest with “tacula” mixed with a pulp of the
bruised leaves of “Herva Santa Maria,” “Ensuso-ensuso,” “Brucutu,” and
other plants, are their only applications. With slaves or other blacks
under the care of Europeans, only the most energetic medical treatment
will save their lives when attacked by these complaints, so dangerous
and rapid is the effect on their constitutions.
Ophthalmia, or any affection of the eyes, is extremely rare in Angola,
either amongst natives or Europeans, which is singular, considering
that the littoral region is so white and sandy in many places.
A kind of itch called “sarna” is very common among the blacks: it
appears as little watery pustules on the hands and feet, and, in
severe cases, on the elbows and knees, and on the arms and legs.
These pustules break into sores, which become covered with matter and
scales, and are accompanied by a little swelling and pain, but not much
itching. It does not appear to be contagious, and I was unable to find
acari in several cases that I examined under the microscope.
I believe it is principally the result of dirt and filth, but is not
always so, as the Cabindas and the cleaner tribes have it, although
not to such an extent as tribes like the Mushicongos, who are so much
dirtier in their habits. Europeans are almost sure to have it after
some years’ residence in the country, and I have known this to be the
case with some who were scrupulously clean in their persons and habits.
It readily gives way to sulphur ointment, and the blacks have no native
remedy so efficacious as this, which is therefore often asked for by
them.
I remember, on my first arrival in Africa, witnessing a little episode
that produced some impression on my then inexperienced mind. I saw
one morning, from my window at Bembe, a black woman and a little girl
go out into the enclosure at the back of my neighbour’s house, both
carrying kitchen pots and pans, plates, and cups and saucers, which
they placed ready for washing up on the usual “tarimba,” a kind of
table or framework of sticks on four uprights, to be seen in every
yard for this purpose. Before going on with her work, however, the
woman stripped the child naked, and proceeded with both hands to rub
her little body all over with sulphur ointment, she being covered from
head to foot with this “sarna.” When she had thoroughly rubbed in the
ointment to her satisfaction, she deliberately, without even so much
as wiping her hands on a rag, poured some water into a frying-pan
and cleaned it with her hands; she did the same with the rest of the
pans and crockery, and left them to drain on the “tarimba” ready for
preparing her master’s breakfast!
I afterwards, in the course of time, had any little squeamishness or
prejudices that I had brought with me from England rubbed off by other
instances of similar insignificant negligences on the part of the
black cooks in Africa. I once found a fine cutting of a big-toe nail on
a beefsteak; another time, a round head with a beak and large eyes, and
a body of an indistinct and cloudy nature, in a rice-pudding, from a
half-hatched egg having been stirred into it in its manufacture; and in
a roast fowl I was disappointed in cutting open what I fondly thought
was its stuffed breast, to find that it was the poor hen’s crop, full
of indian-corn, cockroaches, and a fine centipede. I also, as I have
said before, once saw my cook at Ambriz making some forcemeat-balls
quite round and smooth by rolling them with the palm of his hand on his
naked stomach!
Another skin disease, principally attacking children, and said to be
very contagious, appears in the form of little bladders filled with
water. The treatment for this disease is to touch the vesicles with
caustic, when they soon heal; but the natives adopt a barbarous and
painful process, which is to rub them off with a rough indian-corn
cob and sand and water, and then cover the raw places with powdered
malachite and lime-juice. When at Bembe, my wife was horrified at
finding two or three women busily engaged in the cure of this
complaint on a child near a very pretty pool of water, to which we had
gone to collect butterflies; but instead of using a corn cob, they were
actually scraping the poor, yelling little unfortunate’s sores with a
piece of sharp potsherd! It is, however, satisfactory to know that the
treatment, although cruel, is efficacious.
The purgatives made use of by the negroes are the castor-oil seeds
ground and mixed with a little water, and the juice of the plant
bearing the physic-nut (_Jatropha curcas_). This is collected on a leaf
from a cut made in the stem of the plant, and at once swallowed;--from
five to ten drops appear to be a dose.
Epsom-salts are a very favourite medicine of the blacks living with the
white men near the coast, and I have seen them take a great mugful of a
strong solution of this salt without making a wry face. They are also
very fond of being cupped for any pain, and it is rare to see a man or
woman whose back or shoulders do not bear signs of this operation.
Bleeding seems to suit the negro constitution admirably, and the
Bunda-speaking natives are very skilful in the use of the lancet, often
with dreadfully blunt instruments.
One of the natives in my service at Cambambe was a capital hand at
bleeding, but his lancet was in such shocking condition, that I took
some pains to sharpen it properly on a hone: the first time he used it
afterwards, he nearly killed the man he operated upon, for, accustomed
to find considerable resistance to its blunt point, he applied the same
force to it when sharpened. He told me confidentially that he was much
obliged to me for “fetishing” the lancet, as he was sure I had not made
it so sharp by merely grinding on a stone, and he also told me that no
blood-letter would be able to compete with him.
For swellings in the feet, &c., they are fond of making a number of
little incisions in the skin with a razor or common knife, and I have
often lent them my sharp penknife for this purpose.
For inflammation of the bowels, colic, or other violent pains, great
use is made of the fresh leaves of the tobacco plant, applied as
gathered to the abdomen, or better still, after dipping in boiling
water. They are also chopped up and made into a poultice with
castor-oil. I have heard such wonderful accounts of the efficacy of
this remedy in those cases, both from the natives and Portuguese who
have used it, that I hope some of my medical readers may be induced to
give it a trial, which could easily be done even here, where tobacco
is now so generally grown out of doors as an ornamental plant in our
gardens.
The leaves of the castor-oil plant are also employed in the same
manner, but are said not to be so efficacious.
A short, broad-leaved grass covered with hairs, exuding a sticky gum,
and with a resinous smell, grows in the interior, and when very tired
the natives drink an infusion of it, which they say acts with great
benefit.
There are a variety of other plants employed by the natives in the
cure of various complaints, but of their positive efficacy I can
only speak in two cases. One is a shrub with a very peculiar leaf,
but which unfortunately I did not observe in flower, and therefore
did not collect a specimen, so that I cannot ascertain its botanical
name. About Benguella its name is “Mboi.” The root is sliced, and the
decoction employed to rinse the mouth in scurvy.
A Portuguese trader at Novo Redondo first told me of this plant, and
that it had quickly cured him of a dreadfully ulcerated mouth from
scurvy, after every other remedy he had had from the druggists at
Loanda had failed. On arriving at Egito I found my friend the “chefe”
there also suffering from a very bad mouth. I went into the bush in
search of this plant, and obtained a bundle of the roots for him; a few
days after, I had the satisfaction of receiving a letter telling me it
had cured him perfectly.
Another remedy for stomach and liver complaints, from which I have
seen great benefit derived by the Portuguese who have used it, is the
root of a creeper bearing very pretty small white flowers (_Boerhaavia
sp._), and growing most abundantly everywhere in Angola.
A clerk of mine at Ambriz, who complained of pain in his stomach, and
who was in ill health for several months, notwithstanding the doctor’s
care, was quite cured in a short time by the use of the decoction of
this root. I gave it to him, having seen its good results in several
cases at Benguella.
Singularly enough, there is very little rheumatism amongst the natives
of Angola. Europeans also suffer but little from this complaint; but
a few years ago an epidemic of a kind of rheumatic fever attacked the
natives and nearly every white at Loanda and its neighbourhood. It was
like a simple fever, but accompanied with sudden pain in every joint,
rendering the slightest movement almost impossible. This lasted only
a few days, and the patients gradually got well. If I remember right,
there was no fatal termination to any case among the Europeans. This
disease is known in Angola by the name of “Católo-tólo,” and nearly
forty years had elapsed since its previous appearance at Loanda.
Leeches are extremely abundant in the fresh-water lagoons of Angola,
and are much used by the Portuguese.
In former days, when there was more intercourse between Angola and the
Brazils, leeches were an important article of export, as they fetched a
high price in the latter country. I have often bought a large clay-pot
full of fine leeches for a few fathoms of cotton cloth.
The acrid, milky juice of the euphorbias is very dangerous to the eyes
if it should drop into them, no uncommon circumstance in clearing away
bush, &c. As a remedy the natives employ the juice of the _Sanseviera
Angolensis_, Welw. I imagine that any good effect of this plant in such
cases is more mechanical than otherwise, as it is so full of watery
juice that, by simply twisting the rod-like leaves, abundance of it
immediately squirts out.