The sla delok (a bitter leaf) serves in the place of our worm powders for children.
Another leaf (the slà poó) is used for curing dysentry.
They have also several other medicines (whose virtues are kept secret by the Alà) for complaints of the stomach or that may be used at will without any precise knowledge of the illness needing treatment.
The gum extracted from the singret is employed for stopping decayed teeth and is also rubbed over the cheek during a fit of tooth-ache to preserve it from the air, without putting on bandages.
The Sakai makes great use of charcoal powder in his medicinal preparations, dressing sores, wounds and the bites of animals with it. This might make one suppose that he either knows or divines the disinfecting properties of charcoal. He also makes it a means of defence against the invasions of ants which change their direction when they find the black line across their way.
The water in which a piece of charcoal, made from bitter wood, has been for a long time infused, is according to them a first-rate remedy against debility of the organism and coughs.
The Alà wisely acting for—his own good, reserves for himself the prerogative of mixing certain pharmaceutical specialities which make the patient recover if the indisposition is merely a passing one, but help to kill him if the conditions of his health are serious.
He always keeps prompt some plasters prepared from herbs, either of a soothing or irritating nature, in case of fractures, sprains, or dislocations caused by accidental falls.
But it is scarcely worth while to discuss the merits of these cataplasms, for the Sakai, who is the first person interested in the question, acknowledges and admits their healing virtues.
All the world is akin, and the much respected Alà of the forest is nothing less than an uncivilized colleague of those charlatans, inventors of miracles, who by the sale of powders, lotions, medicinal waters and ointments make their fortune in the midst of civilized society, often deceiving science and common sense by means of well placed advertisements.