326 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



Soya. To cure sore eyes, leaves stripped of outer layers are poulticed below, 

 above, and to the side of the eye. 



Toronjil. Any stomach ailment is relieved by a decoction of it. "We sometimes 

 call this plant malba; in Chile it is called toronjil cuyano." 



Unfermented apple juice is taken as a blood purifier. 



For sore throat, an unidentified plant is cooked in a small amount of water until 

 it forms a thickened concentrated substance. This was applied deep down in 

 the throat with the first two fingers. 



Note : Juices are extracted from plants either by scraping or pounding them ; 

 by crushing them in the palms of the hands ; or by rubbing them by rotating 

 the palms, one over the other, with a circular motion; or mashing them with 

 the fist of one hand in the palm of the other hand. Powder is obtained by 

 pounding dried plants between stones. (See Appendix B for other plants used 

 by the Araucanians.) 



Curative household measures not related to plants are the following : 



A burn is overlaid with a wad of wool saturated with blood from a slight incision 

 made in the comb of a chicken. 



Kerosene is poured into an open wound. 



A thin slice of meat, slightly heated in the fire and rubbed in with salt, is applied 

 to a bruise, "including a blue eye." 



Mother's milk is dropped into a newborn baby's eyes and into sore eyes of older 

 children and adults. 



A broken arm or leg is tied between straight slender branches of a tree. 



Formerly, the meat of a dog, not yet a year old, was eaten to cure stomach ail- 

 ments. Stomach troubles were also alleviated by drinking water containing the 

 scrapings of blue stones, "the ones that fall during a thunderstorm." "My 

 mother has two of these stones, very dark blue ones, which she used in this 

 way." 



The bile of any large animal mixed with clear water taken orally brings a boil 

 to a head. 



Bad blood thought to be due to sickness is let flow through a piercing made in 

 the upper layer of the skin of the person's hand. 



A 65-year-old man had wound red yarn around his painful wrist. "I saw a 

 mestizo Argentine do this, south of here where we were shearing sheep. Since 

 it gave him relief, I thought I would try it." 



No remedy for toothache was known. An aching tooth was pulled — "but we 

 seldom have a toothache. My daughter there [14 years old] and my son 

 [25 years old] have never had a toothache. I [85 years old] had my first tooth 

 pulled recently — it was a loose tooth. I loosened it by stretching leather. We 

 stretch leather by holding it taut with the teeth and pulling it with both hands." 

 Eating meat raw is thought to keep teeth intact. 



No remedy for goiters is known. "Not even the remedies used by the Argentines 

 help us. Formerly we had no goiters." Persons with goiters — men and women 

 of all ages and adolescent boys and girls as well — were seen in all areas visited. 



Water was dashed into the face of a frightened, breathless child. If this did not 

 cause the child to breathe, the mother put her mouth upon the child's and 

 forced her own breath in and out of the child's lungs. (Cf. also pp. 280-281 

 for treatment of sick children.) 



