Hartley Neita, ContributorMen who suffer from diabetes and certain other ailments have for years been unable to perform with their spouses or other romantic attachments as they are expected to do in bed. Anxiety and impatience, and sometimes fear, have also contributed to some men's inability to make sexual love.
Drinking heavy potions of rum and other alcoholic beverages have been tried by men to rouse their passion. Friends of my time still recall the strong rumour about 50 or 60 years ago of a prominent businessman who was said to have drunk tantaradine, a potion given to racehorses who retire and are put out to stud, to revive his sexual prowess.
The story at the time was that he took too much of a dose and found his turgidity remaining steadfast for days and many a night. He had to go to the United States - leaving here wearing a raincoat to hide his problem - where he had an operation to relieve the passion. Pharmacies, or drugstores as they were once known, sold aphrodisiacs - and some still do - under the counter.
There is, for example, a potion called 'Stud'. The bottle has a photograph of a horse standing on its rear legs. Then there is 'Stone' which looks like a slab of chocolate, but not as tough. One's finger is moistened and rubbed on the slab then rubbed on the male staff. This is said to raise the man's intentions. There is also 'Chiney Brush' and 'Indian God' which are liquid aphrodisiacs. The liquid is lightly brushed on the masculine staff and rouses it. Or so it is said.
There is also a range of 'oils' which are sold by mobile dispensers. And these are 'Oil of Raging Passion', 'Oil of Control', 'Protection Oil', 'Oil of Love Forever', and 'Oil of Power'. These mobile dispensers are sought after by men whose sexual powers are waning.
Many men in Jamaica do not trust sex-help items sold by the mobile dispensers and in drug-stores. They prefer natural herbs.
Famous plants
Some of the most famous plants are, first of all, the 'Duppy Gunshot'. This plant looks like the broom weed and grows wild all over Jamaica. Pods with seeds grow on each stem and if these pods are placed in water they swell and explode like gunshots - hence the name. The plant itself (roots, stems and leaves), without the pods, is boiled as a beverage, sweetened to taste and drunk some time before the act. It is said to provide the man with stamina.
Another plant is the 'Medina'. This is a vine. Like the Duppy Gunshot it is boiled, sweetened and drunk. Sometimes it is mixed with 'Strong Back' and when both are drunk together, the stamina and endurance are doubled. There is also the 'Donkey Eye', the seed of which is red. Incidentally, the beverage made from some of these plants is very bitter, but according to a bush doctor, "after the bitter comes the sweet". Some men also swear to the potency of the daddy of them all, the 'Zion Root'.
No accurate measurement
The problem with the use of these plants is that there is no accurate measurement of the dosage which should be taken. But even Viagra, despite its prescribed dosage, can cause problems. Warnings in some advertisements are that there can be stomach upsets, and worse is that you should see a doctor if the turgidity remains longer than a day. Can you imagine men wearing raincoats to their doctor's offices on a dry day? That is why, among some Jamaicans, preference is still given to the herbs, 'Duppy Gunshot', ganja, and of course, rum and stout.
Some years ago, then Minister of Agriculture, Keble Munn, took Dorothy Sealy and I from the Government Public Relations Office, on a tour of coffee farms in the Blue Mountains. He and agronomists in the Ministry had persuaded farmers to begin to use fertilisers to increase their production. The first year, the crop doubled. So in the second year, the farmers doubled the amount of fertiliser used on the premise that they would reap four times as much coffee.
Well, the fertilizer "burnt" the coffee plants. Many farmers lost their acres of trees. It took years to persuade them to use fertiliser again. So, too, it may with Viagra.
