Browse:Cedar (Volume 1, entries 1158–1159)
Cedar
Volume 1, entries 1158–1159. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1158
Well, if anybody - now mostly ah nuse [use] dat to break - lak if dysente'y or somepin lak dat, yo' know. Or if yo' believed yo're poisoned or somepin of de kind lak dat. Well, den yo' git, yo' see, de bark off de tree on de sundown side, an' chip it sundown side, an' yo'll boil dat an' when yo' boil it, yo'll put a piece of gumbo wax in it. Ah guess yo' know dat. An' yo' make dat up as a powder an' let it resolve [dissolve] an' yo' kin use dat.
(What tree do you take that bark from?)
Yo' kin take dat from either a cedar tree or short-leaf [pine] or a black gum or sweet gum; either one of dem trees - short-leaf pine, or rosemary-leaf [pine] or( de thing dat chew call long-leaf [pine]. Yo' use either one of dem. [Since I did not ask about giobo wax, I must have assumed she was talking about the mucilaginous substance of boiled gumbo (okra). I did not ask which of the three so-called cedars or two black gums she used. Rosemary-leaf was unusual for rosemary pine (= loblolly = old-field).]
Entry 1159
De yallah jander [= janders = jaundice], anything lak dat, yo' git a yallah hen an' cook it an' if yo' can't eat it all at one time, jes' eat till yo' eat it all yoreself - it'll cure dat.