Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/325

Rh them to blend with their practice a thousand charms and superstitions. The most customary method of cure is to place two hammocks close to each other, either in the dwelling, or in the open air: in one of them the patient lies extended, and in the other the Mohan, or Agorero. The latter, in contact with the sick man, begins by rocking himself, and then proceeds, by a strain in falsetto, to call on the birds, quadrupeds, and fishes, to give health to the patient. From time to time he rises on his seat, and makes a thousand extravagant gestures over the sick man, to whom he applies his powders and herbs, or sucks the wounded or diseased parts. If the malady augments, the Agorero, having been joined by many of the people, chaunts a short hymn, addressed to the soul of the patient, with this burden: thou must not go, thou must not go. In repeating this, he is joined by the people, until at length a terrible clamour is raised, and augmented in proportion as the sick man becomes still fainter and fainter, to the end that it may reach his ears. When all the charms are unavailing, and death approaches, the Mohan leaps from his hammock, and betakes himself to flight, amid the multitude of sticks, stones, and clods of earth, which are showered on him. Successively all those who belong to the nation assemble, and dividing themselves into bands, each of them, if he who is in his last agonies is a warrior, approaches him, saying; ''whither goest thou? Why dost thou leave us? With whom shall we proceed to the aucas'' (the enemies)? They then relate to him the heroical deeds he has performed, the number of those he has slain, and the, pleasures he leaves behind him. This is practised in different tones: while some raise the voice, it is lowered by others; and the poor sick man is obliged to support these portunities