t of the country, and the same plant employed by a tribe a
thousand miles distant. This surely must arise from some inherent virtue
in the plant. The Boers under Potgeiter visited Delgoa Bay for the first
time about ten years ago, in order to secure a port on the east coast
for their republic. They had come from a part of the interior where the
disease called croup occasionally prevails. There was no appearance of
the disease among them at the period of their visit, but the Portuguese
inhabitants of that bay found that they had left it among them,
and several adults were cut off by a form of the complaint called
'Laryngismus stridulus', the disease of which the great Washington died.
Similar cases have occurred in the South Sea Islands. Ships have left
diseases from which no one on board was suffering at the time of their
visit. Many of the inhabitants here were cut down, usually in three
days from their first attack, until a native doctor adopted the plan of
scratching the root of the tongue freely with a certain root, and giving
a piece of it to be chewed. The cure may have been effected by the
scarification only, but the Portuguese have the strongest faith in the
virtues of the root, and always keep some of it within reach.

There are also other plants which the natives use in the treatment of
fever, and some of them produce 'diaphoresis' in a short space of
time. It is certain that we have got the knowledge of the most potent
febrifuge in our pharmacopoeia from the natives of another country. We
have no cure for cholera and some other diseases. It might be worth the
investigation of those who visit Africa to try and find other remedies
in a somewhat similar way to that in which we found the quinine.*

* I add the native names of a few of their remedies in order
to assist the inquirer: Mupanda panda: this is used in fever
for producing perspiration; the leaves are named Chirussa; the
roots dye red, and are very astringent. Goho or Go-o: this is
the ordeal medicine; it is both purgative and emetic. Mutuva
or Mutumbue: this plant contains so much oil that it serves
as lights in Londa; it is an emollient drink for the cure of
coughs, and the pounded leaves answer as soap to wash the
head. Nyamucu ucu has a curious softening effect on old dry
grain. Mussakasi is believed to remove the effects of the Go-
o. Mudama is a stringent vermifuge. Mapubuza dyes a red
color. Musikizi yie