MELODIES AND RHYTHMS OF THE BABUDU

Recorded on site  (DRC)

BLACK STONE

The so-called "Black Stone" or "Belgian Stone," thanks to its absorptive quality, works to neutralize the fatal effects of snakebite. It does not replace treatment with the serum antidote, which is what is recommended, but in the absence of the serum it can be of great help.

Its discovery is attributed to the Missionaries of Africa  who saw how an African tribe used it. Now its production is in public domain but it took them a very long time to learn the secret that was jealousy guarded by the medicine men of the tribe who would not say how it was produced but gave them some of the stones.

1. Wash the wound produced by the snake.
2. Make small cuts in the bite marks until drops of blood come out.
3. Place the Black Stone on the wound until it sticks there by itself.
4. Try to get the patient to stay calm and not move.
5. Treat the affected zone with antibiotics; those recommended are Penicillin G and Dicloaxacilina to treat infection. To ease the pain give the victim paracetamol.

Once the stone is used it can be re-used but first it must be soaked overnight in a glass of milk , and by morning the stone will be ready to be used again. The glass of milk must be thrown out because it is contaminated.

1. Take a long bone from the hindquarters of a buffalo, a cow or an ox; preferably an old bone because it has very little fat.
2. Wash it, rub it well with detergent, dry it, wash it again at least three times so that it has no grease or oil on it.
3. Cut it in pieces approximately 5 centimeters by 2 centimeters.
4. File it down in order to open the pores of the bone.
5. Put wood coal on a metal sheet, heat it until the metal is very hot.
6. When the metal sheet is very hot, open the coal and put the pieces of bone in a row on it and re-cover with coal, allowing for good air circulation so that the coal burns well.
7. Keep the bones covered with coals for 15 minutes.
8. Uncover after 15 minutes to see whether the bones are black and shiny. If they are only brown, cover again and leave in the fire.
9. If the bones are very black and shiny, take them out with tongs and put them in untreated cold water from a well, a spring or a river (do not put them in water treated with chlorine or in boiled water) for several seconds. This makes the stone harder.

Put the Black Stone on the tongue of a volunteer and if it sticks like glue, it is ready to be used. Remove it by dampening around the stone with water.