Page:Here and there in Yucatan - miscellanies (IA herethereinyucat00lepl 0).djvu/156

 him rum or some good thing they have prepared for him; beg him to sing: if he does, join in with him, and respond to the toasts he deigns to drink to those present. Afterward, by invitation or voluntarily, he attentively examines the patients, gently touching the affected parts, and asking questions concerning the malady. He fumigates the seat of the disease, makes passes over the individual with one of the small musical instruments, and lastly prescribes. When he has finished attending to patients he takes more fire-water and says good-by. Then goes to the wall as before, strikes it with his open palms, and seems greatly exhausted.

After a few minutes' rest he again approaches the wall, as already described, and soon is said to be under control of some one else, who with very little difference repeats what the first did; one thus succeeds another throughout the night. Some only minister to two or three patients, others to many; the master always attending to the most serious cases. They sometimes approve the prescriptions of those who have preceded them, but may prescribe other remedies; then the master decides which shall be used. The medicaments ordered are herbs, barks, roots, and in a few cases purgatives from the drugstore, to be used exactly as directed. When