DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0305
THE WAYAO OF NYASALAND
289
Other hypothetical diseases which are caused by disobedience to custom are mentioned
under various other headings. Kasipa: a disease generally characterized by ulceration of
the legs but in some cases by pains in the back, or loosely used for a variety of symptoms,
is said to be caused by the entry into the body of a worm which lives in water-pools. This
worm which I have had identified is a gordian worm and not known to be parasitic in man.
Luasi: When a man kills another in battle, he will slit open the belly of his victim; other-
wise he believes he will sicken with luasi and his own belly will swell up like that of the
corpse when putrefaction sets in. He is supposed also to hunger after more killing and blood.
Likango is the name of a supposed disease which kills off one child after another in a family
when they are about six months old. Congenital syphilis naturally suggests itself but I
have never been able to verify this idea. Likango lya kututa: a supposed disease which
causes the death of the first child when the second is born, the second when the third
is born and so on, whatever the intervals between the births. Each child is said to
push (ku-tuta) the previous one out of this world. Under these circumstances the disease
is ascribed to something wrong with the mother or father and they are examined by a
medicine-woman or medicine-man, and any carunculae or an external pile found will be
cut away.
If a snake inflicts two bites, the case will prove fatal. If a crocodile emits a grunting
sound when seizing its victim, though he escape he will certainly die.
Treatment of disease. Of surgical treatment there is very little to be noted. Nothing in
the way of operation is performed with the exception of circumcision (see Lupanda).
An abscess is allowed to burst, the smallest tumor is left untouched, but accessory digits
which are not rare, attached only by a fine pedicle, are snipped off.
The natives cannot extract teeth. They are incapable of rendering any assistance in
cases of difficult labor. Dislocations are not recognized as such, but fractures are treated
by the application of wooden sticks placed at intervals round the circumference of the limb
parallel to it and held in position by twisted pieces of bark string (Pl. XXII, fig. 3). The
principle of the tourniquet appears to be unknown.
The only instruments used consist of a small knife for incision, a cupping-horn, and a
primitive form of funnel for administering enemata (Pl. XXII, figs. 1, 2, 4). The knife has
a triangular blade with a stem which is commonly twisted at one of the corners. The knife
is used for wet-cupping, tatooing, and circumcision (PL XXII, fig. 2). The cupping-horn
is a small horn of a calf. The apex is pierced and after application to the part, suction is
made with the mouth and then the hole sealed by working a piece of beeswax over it with
the tongue. Six small incisions are made in the skin for the withdrawal of the blood. The
cupping-horn is called chuwi (tulumika, Chin.). Cupping is used for headache and for pain
in the chest and back. The enema funnel, chigolya (ntimbiri, Chin.) is made from the neck
of a gourd to which is attached a hollow straw for introduction into the anus. Half a pint
of an infusion of nungaiu is injected for constipation associated with pain.
289
Other hypothetical diseases which are caused by disobedience to custom are mentioned
under various other headings. Kasipa: a disease generally characterized by ulceration of
the legs but in some cases by pains in the back, or loosely used for a variety of symptoms,
is said to be caused by the entry into the body of a worm which lives in water-pools. This
worm which I have had identified is a gordian worm and not known to be parasitic in man.
Luasi: When a man kills another in battle, he will slit open the belly of his victim; other-
wise he believes he will sicken with luasi and his own belly will swell up like that of the
corpse when putrefaction sets in. He is supposed also to hunger after more killing and blood.
Likango is the name of a supposed disease which kills off one child after another in a family
when they are about six months old. Congenital syphilis naturally suggests itself but I
have never been able to verify this idea. Likango lya kututa: a supposed disease which
causes the death of the first child when the second is born, the second when the third
is born and so on, whatever the intervals between the births. Each child is said to
push (ku-tuta) the previous one out of this world. Under these circumstances the disease
is ascribed to something wrong with the mother or father and they are examined by a
medicine-woman or medicine-man, and any carunculae or an external pile found will be
cut away.
If a snake inflicts two bites, the case will prove fatal. If a crocodile emits a grunting
sound when seizing its victim, though he escape he will certainly die.
Treatment of disease. Of surgical treatment there is very little to be noted. Nothing in
the way of operation is performed with the exception of circumcision (see Lupanda).
An abscess is allowed to burst, the smallest tumor is left untouched, but accessory digits
which are not rare, attached only by a fine pedicle, are snipped off.
The natives cannot extract teeth. They are incapable of rendering any assistance in
cases of difficult labor. Dislocations are not recognized as such, but fractures are treated
by the application of wooden sticks placed at intervals round the circumference of the limb
parallel to it and held in position by twisted pieces of bark string (Pl. XXII, fig. 3). The
principle of the tourniquet appears to be unknown.
The only instruments used consist of a small knife for incision, a cupping-horn, and a
primitive form of funnel for administering enemata (Pl. XXII, figs. 1, 2, 4). The knife has
a triangular blade with a stem which is commonly twisted at one of the corners. The knife
is used for wet-cupping, tatooing, and circumcision (PL XXII, fig. 2). The cupping-horn
is a small horn of a calf. The apex is pierced and after application to the part, suction is
made with the mouth and then the hole sealed by working a piece of beeswax over it with
the tongue. Six small incisions are made in the skin for the withdrawal of the blood. The
cupping-horn is called chuwi (tulumika, Chin.). Cupping is used for headache and for pain
in the chest and back. The enema funnel, chigolya (ntimbiri, Chin.) is made from the neck
of a gourd to which is attached a hollow straw for introduction into the anus. Half a pint
of an infusion of nungaiu is injected for constipation associated with pain.