Brown cloth bundle in cord mesh, used for healing syphilitic sores, put on the sores and also taken internally, Portuguese Congo, 1880-1890

Inside the cord mesh-covered brown bundle is a traditional plant-based treatment from the Portuguese Congo (now Angola) for syphilis. The treatment was applied directly to the sores or it could be taken internally.

This bundle is one of hundreds of local treatments and cures that were collected from across the African continent by Henry Wellcome’s agents. These were packed up and sent back to London, with a brown paper label attached to the bundle explaining its uses.