They do this as they believe that the new “Amasebele” new mother’s milk would cake in the stomach, corrode it, and cause premature decay.
So that if a child be sickly the doctor often ascribes it to the child having been fed on mothers’ milk too early, which must be purged away by a course of medicine.
At the end of three days the infant is allowed to take the amasebele or breast milk. During these three days if necessary, the breasts are milked by hand.
The Kaffir, not content with the above extraordinary treatment is in the habit of administering drugs to the newborn infant.
Thus on the day of its birth as a purgative, an infusion made by steeping in cold water the tubers of the U-jyane (Chlorophyton comosum) is administered. This is a common infantile aperient but when it is not obtainable, a paste of the leaves or an infusion of the leaves of the U-sikiki (Salvia scabia) is administered for the same purpose.
The Zulus have some curious practises, with regard to children.
At the age of about ten days the first “charm” is worked. It consists of partly burying the infant at some spot near where lightning has [[101]]been known to strike. The hole need not be more than a few inches deep. The mother places her naked infant in the hole, when the Isanuse chewing some medicine roots, squirts it over the child, muttering an incantation as he does so.
The child is then taken up by the father, who is usually present, and handed to the mother. When the ceremony is over, on leaving the spot, no one dare look back, lest the efficacy of the charm be spoiled. This operation is supposed to instil courage into the unwitting heart of the little one; such courage, that even when lightning, the most fearful of all Silos (beasts) is flashing on every side, and the thunder roars as if the very earth would burst, he or she may not momentarily close an eye.
The temporary burying of a child at a later age is thought to be a deterrent of diseases more especially of fevers and colds.
Mothers of children take their little ones, of any age up to five or six years, early in the morning some little distance from home, and dig holes in which each child is placed separately, and into which earth is thrown until the child can only move its arms and [[102]]head, the body being in an upright position. The mothers then walk away, singing songs and behold them from afar, when they return and release them.