298 WITH KITCHENER IN THE SOUDAN must have felt somewhat jealous at my success with Abu, I have been able to do the hakims some service, put fees into their pockets, and at he same time benefited poor people here. I have told them that, just as I recognized the bottle of chloroform, so I have recognized some of the bottles from which the white hakims used to give powder to sick people.

For instance,’ I said, you see this bottle, which is of a different shape from the others. It is full of a white, featherylooking powder. They used to give this to people suffering from fever—about as much as you could put on your nail for men and women, and half as much for children. They used to put it in a little water, and stir it up, and give it to them night and morning. They call it kena, or something like that. It did a great deal of good, and generally drove away the fever. This other bottle they also used a good deal. They put a little of its contents in water and it made a lotion for weak and sore eyes. They called it zing. They saw I was a careful man, and I often made the eye-wash and put the other white powder up into little packets when they were busy, as fever and ophthalmia are the two most common complaints among the natives.’

“ The hakims were immensely pleased, and both told me afterwards that both these medicines had done wonders. I told them that I thought there were some more bottles of these medicines in the chest, and that when they had finished those I had now given them I would look out for the others.

I had, in fact, carried off a bottle both of quinine and zinc powder for my own use, and with the latter I greatly benefited several of the Emir’s children and grand-children, all of whom were suffering from ophthalmia, or from sore eyes that would speedily have developed that disease if they had not been attended to. I had only performed one operation, which was essentially a minor one. Abu told me that his wife, of whom he was very fond, was suffering very great pain from a tooth—could I cure her?

I said that without seeing the tooth I could not do any-