They Give Them An Upward Direction In The Discharge,
So That They Come Down On The Object With Accelerated Force.
I saw a man who in battle had received one in the shin;
the excitement of the moment prevented his
Feeling any pain;
but, when the battle was over, the blade was found to have split the bone,
and become so impacted in the cleft that no force could extract it.
It was necessary to take an axe and press the split bone asunder
before the weapon could be taken out.
Chapter 10.
The Fever - Its Symptoms - Remedies of the native Doctors -
Hospitality of Sekeletu and his People - One of their Reasons for Polygamy
- They cultivate largely - The Makalaka or subject Tribes -
Sebituane's Policy respecting them - Their Affection for him -
Products of the Soil - Instrument of Culture - The Tribute -
Distributed by the Chief - A warlike Demonstration -
Lechulatebe's Provocations - The Makololo determine to punish him -
The Bechuanas - Meaning of the Term - Three Divisions of the great
Family of South Africans.
On the 30th of May I was seized with fever for the first time.
We reached the town of Linyanti on the 23d; and as my habits
were suddenly changed from great exertion to comparative inactivity,
at the commencement of the cold season I suffered from
a severe attack of stoppage of the secretions, closely resembling
a common cold. Warm baths and drinks relieved me, and I had no idea
but that I was now recovering from the effects of a chill,
got by leaving the warm wagon in the evening in order to conduct
family worship at my people's fire. But on the 2d of June
a relapse showed to the Makololo, who knew the complaint,
that my indisposition was no other than the fever, with which
I have since made a more intimate acquaintance. Cold east winds
prevail at this time; and as they come over the extensive flats
inundated by the Chobe, as well as many other districts
where pools of rain-water are now drying up, they may be supposed
to be loaded with malaria and watery vapor, and many cases of fever follow.
The usual symptoms of stopped secretion are manifested -
shivering and a feeling of coldness, though the skin is quite hot
to the touch of another. The heat in the axilla, over the heart
and region of the stomach, was in my case 100 Deg.; but along the spine
and at the nape of the neck 103 Deg. The internal processes were all,
with the exception of the kidneys and liver, stopped;
the latter, in its efforts to free the blood of noxious particles,
often secretes enormous quantities of bile. There were pains along the spine,
and frontal headache. Anxious to ascertain whether the natives
possessed the knowledge of any remedy of which we were ignorant,
I requested the assistance of one of Sekeletu's doctors.
He put some roots into a pot with water, and, when it was boiling,
placed it on a spot beneath a blanket thrown around both me and it.
This produced no immediate effect; he then got a small bundle of different
kinds of medicinal woods, and, burning them in a potsherd nearly to ashes,
used the smoke and hot vapor arising from them as an auxiliary to the other
in causing diaphoresis.
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