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.