Medicinal Animal Use ( Zootherapy ) amongst KhoeSan of
Namibia, South Africa and Botswana
Table 3     Beetle, cockroach, mantis,
millipede, spider
Animal
Part Used
Uses and Preparation
Beetle
Jewel beetle
( hubida )
Blister beetle
( gubinab)

Body (entire)

(D21) for ambea (?) pain “something that grows up the
anus of people” [ piles?]
(D21) as for Jewel beetle
Beetle
The black stinky
one ( gamabes )

Body (entire)

(N9) for Stuib ( chest pain ), if the chest comes out,
make cuts anterior and posterior, bilateral 4/5 rib space
(or where the pain is) and rub in kudu skin, ostrich
egg-shell and the beetle. Also give the mixture to drink
Beetle
(Insect –
((D)
/hutubis)
((N)
!nabas)
((H)
!hutubis,
/namirob)

Body (entire)
(D16) to protect your child from other children, squeeze
it on your baby’s head and chest. A child with ‘medicinal
cuts’ or the
/hutubis can !gau  (make fall over) another
child
(N33) for children’s sickness add it to the othe child
medicines
(H54) if a child without the
!hutubis plays with children
with it, the top of the head goes soft, the child gets sick,
has bloody diarrhoea and will die
(H2219) you can use either the
eland or the /namirob in
children to protect / make them strong. They are the
same. If a child without the cuts plays with one with, a
deep space develops in the anterior chest
Beetle
( (H) !huxuris )

Body (entire)

(H52) in old time when top of a child’s skull goes soft (
anterior fontanel) and the chest goes in they used
kudu
horn and the !huxuris
Beetle
( red )

Belief

(H, Schatz) cannot touch the red beetle that comes out
after the rain. If you do the rain may stay (?)
Cockroach
(
//hamda )

Body (entire)

(D72) for a sick child squeeze it on top of the chest and
on the head ( anterior fontanel ); for women itching
(genital?), grind the
//hamda with the !gûs and ≠gaes
plants leaves. Applied by an old woman. You must not
kill the insect you must just tie him in a cloth to die on its
own
≠Harare (D)
Body (entire)
(D72) for a sick child squeeze it on top of the chest and
on the head ( anterior fontanel ); for women itching
(genital?), grind the //hamda with the
!gûs and ≠gaes
plants leaves. Applied by an old woman. You must not
kill the insect you must just tie him in a cloth to die on its
own
Mantis
Belief
(J90) same name as the devil //awah
(J94) called //Gawa //wa !ah “if the mantis knows you it is
why it sits on you”
(J2161) called /
/Gauwa //hooroo, means //Gauwa
medicine, nothing special about it
(J2170) called
//Gauwa //o’a !ah, nothing special
(H, Schatz) Haiseb is the mantis, like a ghost, very
special. If he fell off his bike he said “Haiseb was in the
tree over the path and flung me off”
(H2229) called Haiseb, if he sits on the neck of an
animal the sticky bits on his limbs cut the animal, that is
why they are frightened
(Kh2121) the Hottentot Hot, “it is with the dance”
(J2180) called
Charagagga, if you hear a noise at night
something evil will happen at that place, they will hear
bad news. If there has been one you must throw a coal
in the direction it has gone to and say //gawasi dwāh
ooh “evil gods go away”
Millipede
Body






Belief
(D47 (Himba?) grind a dead one and put it in the eyes
for eye sickness
(J92) there is something like a
snake called Goru , a
worm ?? you dry it, grind it, put it on bite and then it
takes back all the poison. In the old days the people
would use the worm, grind it and keep it by themselves

(Nh2188) don’t know if poisonous but it wounds you if it
comes into contact with you when sleeping
(Nh2198) if it licks you a wound forms that does not get
well quickly
(Kh2120) when lots of  the rain
worms come out we
know big rain is on its way
Spider
Body
(Kh2120) to make yourself immune to snake and
scorpion bites take the head of the yellow snake and the
monkey spider and the noba snake and the scorpion
then you dry them and you grind them, then you cut
yourself in with that. It can't kill you because it is not one
poison but lots of poisons and they argue against each
other, so they fight each other
Home
Table 1, mammals, birds, scorpions, snakes
Table 2, Domestic Animals
Home
For a table key see Tables 1 and 2
© 2009 Chris Hewson Low, All Rights Reserved