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WITCH DOCTOR'S APPRENTICE by Nicole Maxwell Kirkus Star

WITCH DOCTOR'S APPRENTICE

By

Pub Date: Nov. 7th, 1961
ISBN: 0806511745
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

A one woman expedition in search of vegetable medicine is something different to contemplate and Mrs. Maxwell's story of the ten months she spent in 1958-59 in almost uninhabited South American jungles with semi-civilized Indians is of definite interest. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and with a record of previous studies in Ecuador, she was backed by a pharmaceutical company to bring back specimens for laboratory examination and the ways in which she found botanicals that influence fertility, contraception, aching teeth, bleeding, caries, obesity, etc., etc., are an adventurous record. Trading with glass eyes she was accepted by male and female witches, and proved herself worthy of the medicine magic they practiced; she made friends, knew discomforts and distrust, and she learned a great deal about the herbs and plants that were traditional remedies and cures. An irrepressible and attractive report, this covers its out of the way territory most satisfactorily.