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also be added a portion of the 44 herbs which we shall presently describe.
Siawan.Siawan is a complaint which is supposed to result in the early falling out or turning grey of the hair, the rapid decay of the teeth and weakening of the eyesight. Its symptoms are toothache, a disagreeable sensation in the nose, and headache. The medicinal cigar just described is also used as a remedy for this complaint.
A moderate use of various narcotics is prescribed for sundry purposes, as for example the smoking of ganja (hashish) to excite the appetite, and the eating of opium to render the body thickset or to prolong sexual enjoyment.
Various other medicaments.The bitter extract of beum-leaves taken on an empty stomach, serves to dispel a chill and shivery feeling often experienced on rising in the morning.
The Achehnese very rarely drink tea or coffee[1] on ordinary occasions, but in case of illness these beverages are employed in place of water, or at all events the latter is boiled before use, a custom which European medical science is certain to regard with approval.
A soup composed of various vegetables mixed together (gulè rampòn) is the favourite fare of convalescents.
Tears of the sea-cow or duyong (ië mata duyōn) are generally known by name as a sovereign cure, but no one has ever beheld them.
The methods of treatment are for the most part identical with those common to the Malays and Javanese.
Method of treatment.A large number of external remedies are applied to the spot on which they are supposed to act by ejection from the mouth. The bespuing of a wound with water to cleanse it is called preut, and the same word is applied to the beslavering of a sick person with sirih spittle or "charmed" water. This last is also called seumbō, but the more special meaning of this word is the bespuing of patients with chewed-up medicaments, whether blessed by an incantation or not. Blowing (prōïh)[2] on the head or some other part of the patient's body as a finale to the recitation of a rajah, and of massage (urōt), for which, as we have seen,
- ↑ The use of both of these beverages in Acheh is restricted for the most part to the foreigners who have settled in Gampōng Jawa and their Achehnese neighbours or to hajis who have grown accustomed to their use during their sojourn in Arabia.
- ↑ Compare Sir William Maxwell's description of a Malay cure N°. 22 p. 23 of Notes and Queries issued with N°. 14 of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for Dec. 1884. (Singapore 1885). (Translator).
