Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/84

72 disregarded, and Chinese figs and sardines given in cases of vomiting and diarrhœa," (p. 263).

"A girl was convalescing from enteric. She was given dried peaches, which the child ate, and nearly died. A woman and her son were in hospital suffering from enteric. A friend came to visit her carrying something under her apron. The sister asked what it was. The woman produced a bottle containing a brown looking fluid which she said was very good to relieve thirst. The sister asked what it was, and the woman told her it was horse-dung cooked in water and strained. 'It is very good; you can taste it if you like.' The invitation was not accepted, and the woman was sent away, very indignant that her remedy was not appreciated. A similar infusion made with goat's dung is a very favourite drink given by the Boers to bring out the rash in measles. The matron has seen it several times employed in this camp." (Middelburg Camp, p. 333.)

Dr. Kendal Franks, writing on the Heidelberg Camps, also says that "Neglecting their children is the result of a certain fatalism which is common among them. "It is God's will," is the excuse or reason they give for sitting by a sick child and never moving as much as a finger to give it food or medicine ordered by the doctor. A misdirected energy often enables them to make shrouds, &c., for their children while they still live, and while, in my opinion, there is still every hope for them" (p. 299). In the Report on Belfast Camp, he says, "It is a well-known custom with the Boers to keep coffins ready for use in their houses, a wise precaution, considering the hot climate and the isolated condition of the farmhouses. Two old Boers brought their coffins with them, and propped them up against the outside of their tents," (p. 327).

The following examples illustrate some of the foregoing points:—

I. I heard some years ago from a nurse in a Children's Hospital in London, of one case where a child was found to be so dirty that ordinary washing was of no use to cleanse the child's skin. Bread poultices had to be applied to the child's feet to remove some of the dirt, and the child was thoroughly frightened when the nurse washed his body all over. After having a bath for the first time, he told his parents when they visited him of the extraordinary thing that had been done. He regarded it, and possibly the parents did also, as undergoing a serious operation.