n I receive instructions to drink the
soup from a fat chicken in the morning, and to eat its flesh in the
evening; to eat hot bread and drink sweet tea, and to do as little
work as possible, the powder to be taken daily for a fortnight in a
little honey. Whatever else he may not know, it is evident that our
doctor knows full well how to humour his patients.

The next case is even more easy of treatment than mine, a "writing"
only being required. On a piece of very common paper two or three
inches square, the doctor writes something of which the only legible
part is the first line: "In the name of God, the Pitying, the
Pitiful," followed, we subsequently learn, by repetitions of "Only God
is the Healer." For this the patient is to get his wife to make a felt
bag sewed with coloured silk, into which the charm is to be put, along
with a little salt and a few parings of garlic, after which it is to
be worn round his neck for ever.

Sometimes, in wandering through Morocco, one comes across much more
curious remedies than these, for the worthy we have just visited is
but a commonplace type in this country. A medical friend once met a
professional brother in the interior who had a truly original method
of proving his skill. By pressing his finger on the side of his
nose close to his eye, he could send a jet of liquid right into his
interlocutor's face, a proceeding sufficient to satisfy all doubts as
to his alleged marvellous powers. On examination it was found that
he had a small orifice near the corner of the eye, through which the
pressure forced the lachrymal fluid, pure tears, in fact. This is just
an instance of the way in which any natural defect or peculiarity
is made the most of by these wandering empirics, to impose on their
ignorant and credulous victims.

Even such of them as do give any variety of remedies are hardly more
to be trusted. Whatever they give, their patients like big doses, and
are not content without corresponding visible effects. Epsom salts,
which are in great repute, are never given to a man in less quantities
than two tablespoonfuls. On one occasion a poor woman came to me
suffering from ague, and looking very dejected. I mixed this quantity
of salts in a tumblerful of water, with a good dose of quinine,
bidding her drink two-thirds of it, and give the remainder to her
daughter, who evidently needed it as much as she did. Her share was
soon disposed of with hardly more than a grimace, to the i