Maroon medicine men in Suriname have long known some of the medicinal uses for Caesalpinia pulcherrima, which is known as ayoowiri. Four grams from the root is also said to induce abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Abortion was probably quite common in Surinam, but it took place in secrecy and it can hardly be called a form of resistance. Maybe some women aborted because they resented bringing another slave into the world, but most did it for purely private reasons and sometimes even at the instigation of their masters, who did not want to be burdened with rearing young slaves, or to be embarrassed by mulatto offspring. Infanticide was also a hidden phenomenon. It was nearly impossible to prove whether a baby died from natural causes, or because it had been deliberately neglected or killed. It is undeniable, however, that some mothers were suspected by their master, or by other slaves, of having practiced infanticide. Most of the time, the slaves did not take kindly to this. When a mother killed her baby out of desperation, both the master and the Court often proved to be remarkably forgiving –much more so than her peers.
Amazon mystery: A medicine man understood the secrets of this plant long before we did. How?
By Dr. S. Allen Counter, Globe Correspondent | July 24, 2006
``This plant, ayoowiri, cures many things," said the medicine man DaBuWan in the Amazon rain forest as he held up a beautiful plant with red and yellow flowers.
``The juice from the leaves cures fever, the juice from the flower cures sores, and the seeds cure bad cough, breathing difficulty, and chest pain."
DaBuWan, his face and upper body painted with the sacred white clay they call ``pemba dotee," and wearing a loincloth, carefully examined the roots of the plant like any other scientist. ``This part can be very dangerous," he warned, pointing to the brown roots, which he said could cause death if eaten.
``It is a powerful woman's medicine," the descendant of West African slaves added with a very serious look on his face. ``A woman can use it to end a pregnancy."
``Abortion?" I asked.
``Yes," he said with hand gestures around the abdomen, ``abortions."
DaBuWan was then arguably one of the greatest medicine men in the Amazon rain forest, if not the world, and I spent seven years in the 1970s and 1980s storing and cataloguing some of the plants he identified. I was in awe of his knowledge.
