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 20l., 30l., and 40l., 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.