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[Hislop will see about obtaining definite particulars, with local names, modes of application for all the general remedies]
As to any superstition, connected with any chronic sickness, anything which to them has no visible cause is ascribed to the magic (or whatever else it may be called) of their enemies: these latter who can render themselves invisible, may come and twist their necks in the darkness of the night, or else wound them with some invisible weapon which leaves no trace of any scar.
Such alleged diseases and illnesses may be cured by one or the other of the following methods. Some of the old women, or some of the ’doctors’, will take a piece of bark twine attached to the extremity of a spindle-shaped piece of beeswax, the other extremity being stuck or held on by the patient to that portion of his body which he considers most affected: the operator then takes the first extremity of the string in his mouth and with both hands rubs it quickly from side to side over the lower lip, behind the teeth, until the blood comes, and then spits it out. He takes some water into his mouth, and after a time expectorates more bloody froth. Sometimes, both ends of the string are attached each to a piece of beeswax: in such a case, both ends are held or placed alongside the painful spot by the patient himself, the physician ’drawing’ the blood with the centre of the string. With such energy and determination in this performance gone though, that in one case of a gin (seen by Hislop)