WITCH DOCTORS IN S.A.

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 792, 12 October 1929, Page 30

WITCH DOCTORS IN S.A.

NATIVES MAKE DOUBLY SURE A recent message from South Africa announcing that native witch doctors j had formed a union, is probably based on the fact that last year native herbalists in Johannesburg attached themselves for protection to a general trade union of natives. When in health the town native may be the most advanced and civilised person, says a writer in a South African exchange. But in sickness he is just a poor, nervous savage, and is mortally afraid not to revert to the ancient custom of consulting a native doctor, who may be either a harmless herbalist or one of those j prehistoric quacks, the witch doctor i proper. So that, iu every' town, you will find living in the native location practising medicoes of varying degrees of harmfulncss, and no doubt of some actual healing skill in the use of herbs. And although your sick houseboy may tell you lie had beeu to see Dr. Smith, your own family practitioner, from whom he has secured one of those satisfyingly large bottles of medicine, such as English doctors prescribe to natives, | you may be sure that, to be on the safe side, he has also been to the native doctor as well, and is probably wearing some particularly unhygienic charm, or taking doses of assorted microbes—if not actual poison—from his doctor’s professional bag. If, in an effort to do a little home curing, you give a native pills or tabloids he will take them gingerly to his room. But if he is still fairly raw he will not venture to take such little medicine as that, which must surely either be worthless or contain some unknown and terribly potent white man’s magic. So the native healers do a good business in a big town; and especially in the vicinity of the gold mines with their thousands of raw natives fresh from the kraal and very timid. As they rub against civilisation so do the black doctors add to their pharmacopoeia such uuconsidered trifles as blasting gelatine—useful in the preparation of love philtres as being strong enough to move mountains—and many other products of modern science. Iu love-philtres I have had to analyse I have found both blasting gelatine and traces of the mistletoe plant, a strange meeting of ancient and modern that could only have been blended by a pessimistic race, a race wearing metaphorically both belt and braces. The use of mistletoe, by the way, is indigenous to the country, as is also the plant in its varying forms, and has certainly not arisen from the contact with white men. A fascinating piece of research might be pursued on this fact alone by the Golden Bough prospectors of today. To realise liow large a part the Kaffir doctor plays in the lives of the natives of South Africa one must be aware that, to the Kaffir in his raw state, natural misfortunes, illness or death do not exist. All is duo to some enemy employing the forces of witchcraft. Before civilisation touched

him, and very largely still in tlie native reserves, these medicine men were sharply divided into classes which did not as a rule encroach on one another's functions. In centres of civilisation these divisions are no longer sharply defined. These classes are: tl) Doctors proper, who are diagnosticians only. (2) Herbalists, who administer medicine made from herbs or other substances. (3) Witch doctors under three categories: First, those who discover or smell-out the person who has caused an illness or death, but take no part in the punishment: secondly, those who smell-out persons who have brought about misfortunes such as loss of an ox or the burning of a hut; thirdly, those who cure illness or sores caused by cuts, thorns, etc., by applying a poultice or some native charm, who dance and incant and then suddenly * , pick-uxi” or “extract’’ the evil influence in the form of a lizard, beetle, or some such conjured-up scapegoat. The writer has had many opportunities of examining the materia medica of these men—simple herbal remedies, emetics and purgatives jumbled up with fat of lions, hippos and human beings; with magnetite, permanganate of potash, bones, snake-skins, bright crystals of quartz, blue vitriol and deadly drugs, such as acokantherin and cantkarides. Cases are frequent in the criminal courts where these men have innocently or otherwise caused the death of patients. For even the mildest of herbalists is liable to kill his patient. He has no conception of dosage, and gives the, same big dose to an infant, a weakly adult or a powerful man. And, of course, when tried for homicide he is an adept at evasion. Here is an example: A native being tried for causing the death of an infant by administering blue vitriol, gave this evidence in his own defence. He said: “The father of the child sent to me to examine the mother, as three previous children of hers had died. The mother had red patches over her body, so I knew she had swallowed the river-god down at the river. Yes, she had swallowed the river-god, consequently her children had died after vomiting blue. The woman gave the child the breast, and the child said 4 Psh’ and died.” As for the true witch-doctor, he is an unmitigated scoundrel. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to bring him to book. So deep is the fear he inspires that it_ is almost impossible to get native evidence against him. But here is one rare exception: A native found guilty of murder was usked the usual question before sentence of death was passed. He dramatically replied, “Yes, I killed him because he was a witch doctor. He killed my wife, my father, my children. All I ask is that you do not keep mo six weeks in prison, but hang me quickly, so that I can go down quickly* to hell and catch him there. You men who have heard my words —do as I did! Kill all the witch doctors!” Jn a wiser, if less legal world, this brave man would have been cherished for the good of his tribe rather than hanged, as he subsequently was.