My Success As A Physician Had Gained Me Many Friends,
As I Studiously Avoided The Acceptance Of Any Present In
Return
for my services, which I wished them to receive as simple acts of
kindness; thus I had placed the
Sheik Hassan bel Kader under an
obligation, by curing him of a fever; and as he chanced to
combine in his own person the titles of both sheik and faky, I
had acquired a great ascendency in the village, as my medicines
had proved more efficacious than the talismans. "Physician, cure
thyself," applied to the Faky, who found three grains of my
tartar emetic more powerful than a whole chapter of the Koran.
We frequently had medical discussions, and the contents of my
large medicine-chest were examined with wonder by a curious
crowd; the simple effect of mixing a seidlitz powder was a source
of astonishment; but a few drops of sulphuric acid upon a piece
of strong cotton cloth which it destroyed immediately, was a
miracle that invested the medicine-chest with a specific
character for all diseases. The Arab style of doctoring is rather
rough. If a horse or other animal has inflammation, they hobble
the legs and throw it upon the ground, after which operation a
number of men kick it in the belly until it is relieved--(by
death). Should a man be attacked with fever, his friends
prescribe a system of diet, in addition to the Koran of the Faky:
he is made to drink, as hot as he can swallow it, about a quart
of melted sheep's fat or butter. Young dogs, as a cure for
distemper, are thrown from the roof of a house to the ground--a
height of about ten feet. One night we were sitting at dinner,
when we suddenly heard a great noise, and the air was illumined
by the blaze of a hut on fire. In the midst of the tumult I heard
the unmistakeable cries of dogs, and thinking that they were
unable to escape from the fire, I ran towards the spot. As I
approached, first one and then another dog ran screaming from the
flames, until a regular pack of about twenty scorched animals
appeared in quick succession, all half mad with fright and fire.
I was informed that hydrophobia was very prevalent in the
country, and that the certain preventive from that frightful
malady was to make all the dogs of the village pass through the
fire. Accordingly an old hut had been filled with straw and
fired; after which, each dog was brought by its owner and thrown
into the flames. Upon another occasion I heard a great yelling
and commotion, and I found Mahomet's "mother's brother's cousin's
sister's mother's son," Achmet, struggling on the ground, and
nearly overpowered by a number of Arabs, who were determined to
operate upon a large boil in his groin, which they had condemned
to be squeezed, although it was not in a state that admitted of
such treatment. The patient was biting and kicking liberally on
all sides in self-defence, and his obstinate surgeons could
hardly be persuaded to desist.
Syphilis is common throughout the country, and there are several
varieties of food that are supposed to effect a cure. A sheep is
killed, and the entire flesh is cooked with the fat, being cut
into small pieces and baked in a pot; several pounds of butter or
other grease are then boiled, and in that state are poured into
the jars containing the baked meat; the patient is then shut up
by himself in a hut with this large quantity of fat food, with
which he is to gorge himself until the whole is consumed. Another
supposed cure for the same disease is a pig dressed in a similar
manner, which meat, although forbidden by the Koran, may be taken
medicinally. The flesh of the crocodile is eaten greedily, being
supposed to promote desire. There are few animals that the Arabs
of the Nubian provinces will refuse; the wild boar is invariably
eaten by the Arab hunters, although in direct opposition to the
rules of the Koran. I once asked them what their Faky would say
if he were aware of such a transgression. "Oh !" they replied,
"we have already asked his permission, as we are sometimes
severely pressed for food in the jungles; he says, 'If you have
the KORAN in your hand and NO PIG, you are forbidden to eat pork;
but if you have the PIG in your hand and NO KORAN, you had better
eat what God has given you.'"
This is a charming example of simplicity in theological
discussion that might perhaps be followed with advantage in
graver questions; we might cease to strain at the gnats and
swallow our pigs.
I had an audience of a party of hunters whom I had long wished to
meet. Before my arrival at Sofi I had heard of a particular tribe
of Arabs that inhabited the country south of Cassala, between
that town and the Base country; these were the Hamrans, who were
described as the most extraordinary Nimrods, who hunted and kiled
all wild animals, from the antelope to the elephant, with no
other weapon than the sword; the lion and the rhinoceros fell
alike before the invincible sabres of these mighty hunters, to
whom as an old elephant-hunter I wished to make my salaam, and
humbly confess my inferiority.
From the manner in which their exploits had been hitherto
explained to me, I could not understand how it could be possible
to kill an elephant with the sword, unless the animal should be
mobbed by a crowd of men and hacked to death, but I was assured
that the most savage elephant had no chance upon good riding
ground, against four aggageers (as the hunters with the sword are
designated). I had determined to engage a party of these hunters
to accompany me throughout my exploration of the Abyssinian
rivers at the proper season, when I should have an excellent
opportunity of combining sport with an examination of the
country.
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