Page:Popular medicine, customs and superstitions of the Rio Grande, John G. Bourke, 1894.pdf/26

144 break out into a profuse sweat, and will vomit again—but he must now be careful of himself, lest he take cold. Let him now eat what he pleases, and go to sleep. When he wakes up in the morning, he will be completely cured of his infatuation. (M. A.)

To keep witches away from you at night: When about to retire, kneel down and say the following prayer, in a low voice:—

Cuatro esquinas tiene mi casa. (My house has four corners.) Cuatro angeles que la adoran. (Four angels adore it.) Lucas, Marcos, Juan, y Mateo. (Luke, Mark, John, and Matthew.) Ni brujas, ni hechiceras. (Neither witches, nor charmers.) Ni hombre malhechor. (Nor evil-doing man.) (Must harm me, understood.)

En el Nombre del Padre. (In the Name of the Father.) Y del Hijo, y del Espiritu Santo. (And of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.)

Recite the above three times, and witches can neither harm you nor enter your house. (M. A.)

I have two sets of prayers to counteract witchcraft: One to "San Cipriano," printed in Saltillo, in 1888, in the press of Ignacio C. de la Peña. It is too long to be copied entire, but includes an invocation for preservation from sudden death, lightning, earthquake, fire, calumny, evil tongues, bad thoughts, all enemies, visible and invisible, and for all who are bewitched ("maleficiados"), or likely to be. The second, entitled "Novena de San Ramon Non-nato," Mexico, 1889, does not specify witchcraft in direct terms.

The last punishment inflicted for witchcraft within the limits of the United States was that imposed by Judge Sam Stewart of Rio Grande City (Fort Ringgold), Texas, in 1876.

As nearly as I can arrange the story from my notes and my recollection of the judge's account, it was about like this: A young man of good Mexican family was slowly wasting away under the attack of a disease, the exact nature of which quite baffled the local medical talent. All the medicines on sale in the "Botica del Aguila" (Eagle Drug Store) had been sampled to no purpose, and the sick man's condition had become deplorable. The physicians, who disagreed in everything else, concurred upon the one point that he had but a few days longer to live. At this juncture, a friend suggested to the mother that she call in one of the numerous old hags, who, under the name of "curanderas," combine in equal portions a knowledge