to the ground. Somewhat unnerved by his behavior, I hastened 

 to complete my collections. 



Later, upon reflection, I was most curious as to why such a 

 stand, growing a mere five minutes from the principle trail to 

 Las Huaringas, had not been harvested. At that time San Pedro 

 sold in the coastal markets for 500 soles (about $1.00 US then) a 

 one-foot section of about eight inch girth. As a result, virtually 

 all escaped populations of the San Pedro cactus in the valley had 

 been harvested. Yet here was a single unmolested stand of 

 literally tons of the cactus. When I questioned my main 

 informant, a particularly esteemed maestro, don Pancho Guar- 

 nizo' , he gravely asked me how far into the stand I had ventured. 

 When I replied that I had merely made some collections on the 

 periphery, he sighed in relief and mentioned that in that case I 

 would not die but merely break out with a horrible pestilence. 



That special clone of San Pedro, he warned me, is protected 

 by an enormous serpent living at the centre of the stand. The 

 snake does not bite intruders but rather, as a spirit guardian of 

 the plant, causes repugnant diseases to break out — a plague "like 

 measles that causes small bumps all over the body." The cactus 

 itself was reputedly the strongest in the valley, but no maestro 

 dared to use it. Hence the stand is never disturbed. 



The pestilence referred to in the legend quite possibly is the 

 dreaded verruga, or Clarion's disease, an affliction known only 

 from Peru, where it is localised in certain valleys of the western 

 slope of the first range of the cordillera, including that of 

 Huancabamba. It is caused by a recently identified bacillus 

 {Bartonnella hacilliformis) which causes a temporary eruption 



' My principle informant at Huancabamba was don Pancho Guarnizo, a highly regarded 

 maestro and a proud member of the Asociacion de Naturalistas Evangelicas del Peru. 

 The Guarni/o family emigrated to Peru from Ecuador some 150 years ago, and for 

 several generations has been closely associated with the cull. Don Pancho was 

 apprentised to his grandfather, a well known maestro from Las Huaringas, and in turn 

 has passed his remarkable knowledge on to a number of individuals now practising as 

 maestros in the Huancabamba area. Only recently did don Pancho himself move from 

 Las Huaringas to the outskirts of Huancabamba and the family retains a house at 

 Taleneo, near the Laguna Negra, whence one of the sons directs the ceremonies at the 

 sacred lakes. A second son, Jose, is a noted herbalist who has compiled a list of over 3000 

 medicinal plants which he is attempting to print in the coastal city of Piura. Jose is the 

 "pharmacist" to whom don Pancho refers his patients for herbal treatments. 



370 



