.MTAxNA.NjcwNjM

13 Their Diseases & Cures Their priests sometimes pray for their sick, and then they make many repetitions with a terrible howling noise, & violent gestures of their body, till they are all over in a sweat. They put Myrtle & Holly, and some other things into a dish full of water, & sprinkle it all over ye house; They take of the sick persons cloaths and sprinkle his naked body; and sometimes they stretch themselves on the sick persons body, hands to hands, face to face &c. Sometimes after this ceremony, the sick person riseth up on a sudden & walks about ye house, as if nothing had ailed him. When they are sick they hang over their Cabins where they lye some Cubits of their money, and the Doctor that cures them, has them for his reward: If there be two or three Doctors, they share it among ym. They never open a vein to bleed. They admire our knowing ones distemper by feeling the pulse. When they are wounded, or bruised, they cut the flesh to make it bleed, & suck out the bruised blood. In severall distempers and also when they are overwearied, after a journey, or Hunting, they shut themselves up in a hot house to sweat & from thence, run into the cold water, which, they say, perfectly cures them. When they are in health, but dull, the doing this, makes them brisk & Lively. The Indians have great knowledge of ye virtues of their medicinall herbs, & perform extraordinary cures with them. There are some sad distempers, very common among them. Many are taken by? ye belly acke, wch is a dreadfull torment: many times, it takes away use of yr limbs: after recovery, they seldome come to have ye use of their hands, and Legs. There is anoyr Disease, they call ye Distemper, wch consumes their throat & nose & other parts, as the French pox does, and they use the same remedies. Few or none are cured of it there. The Inglish here, have, few Doctors that understand anything, there being little money among them. Most new comers have a severe fever & unclear, wch they call the seasoning & most part have it the first year. It continues a month or two.