348 A VISIT TO THE COUNTRY. 



telligence and benevolence. Guzman says: "Although, as has been shown, general opinion 

 credited the curative powers of the doctor of- Chuapa as a special gift from God, in reward for 

 ardent charity, there will not be wanting a large number who consider themselves philosophers, 

 and may laugh at our account, attributing the whole to preoccupation and fanaticism." But, in 

 confirmation, let us see what Senor Bustillos says a gentleman who, from his knowledge and 

 recognised talent, is not one likely to be easily fascinated by vulgar credulity. In a note to the 

 government, dated May 12th, he says : "Notwithstanding the medico of Chuapa was ignorant of 

 the principles of medical science, he made admirable cures ; at least, I could not discover any 

 of those principles in Cuevas ; and I ridiculed the credulity and superstition of the vulgar. 

 But when I witnessed the prodigies effected in his cures, I could do no less than recognise in 

 him a special gift from Heaven, conceded by God to a truly charitable man in order that he may 

 exercise benevolence towards the poor who are deprived of all human resource." The commis- 

 sioner afterwards tells government of other peculiar virtues of the memorable medico of Chuapa, 

 and says, that " in this worthy old man he had not perceived one immoral habit ; that he was 

 ignorant of selfishness, and lived in the midst of privations, dedicated wholly to the care of the 

 sick poor, aided by the daughters who were constantly occupied in serving them." 



When a peon becomes ill, if there be one not too distant, the landlord strives to get him to 

 the hospital at the nearest town ; but, as with the poor everywhere, they have a dread of hospi- 

 tals, and so great is their repugnance that few can be induced to go from the country. In such 

 emergency a friend is sent off to the medica with a vial of urine, in accordance with the practice 

 adopted by Cuevas; from which (it is pretended), and the statement made, she is enabled to 

 judge of the remedy required and the necessity for personal examination. Her knowledge of the 

 properties of medicinal herbs enables her to send back a preparation quite as likely to prove 

 successful as a prescription by the learned faculty ; at least, the bills of mortality show that life 

 is equally as safe in the country as in the city. The number of deaths in the whole province 

 during the year 1848 was 6,143, of whom 4,171 were under seven years of age. Without the 

 city, 2,739 died, of whom 1,482 were children. The births numbered 14,097, of whom only 

 4,559 were born within the city. Very little reliance, however, is to be placed on these data ; 

 for the volume (Eepertorio National) from which they are taken gives the population of the 

 province as 207,434 ; from which, the deaths being only 6,143, or scarcely three per cent., and 

 the births more than 14,000, one would infer a rapid increase. Yet it is well known that such 

 is not the case, there having been very little visible augmentation of the campestral population 

 in many years. 



From the disproportion observed between the two sexes, one of necessity infers that women are 

 healthier, and, by consequence, longer lived than men a result towards which several causes 

 contribute. Some physicians regard the loss of blood monthly, and in parturition, as espe- 

 cially beneficial to health in this climate, and as the predominating cause ; but I am disposed 

 to suggest that uncleanliness, drunkenness, gluttony, and licentious intercourse, characteristic 

 of the lower classes, may be quite as strongly prejudicial as the stated loss of blood is beneficial. 

 It is quite certain that the numbers one meets of old women, and of young ones with robust and 

 healthy figures, attract attention, whereas an old or portly man is rarely seen ; and this condi- 

 tion of society is applicable at Santiago as well as in the country. According to the returns, 

 there died in the province during 1848, 74 women and 41 men who were more than 90 years of 

 age. Of these there was one woman of 112, one of 108, one of 104, and eight of 100 years each. 

 One man only attained 111, and two others 100 years each. 



The men are usually spare, scarcely of the average height of their Spanish ancestors, and gen- 

 erally have not the muscular development belonging to laboring men of such proportions but 

 rather those of sedentary persons. Indolent, and averse to labor, the little strength given by 

 nature is never improved by exercises or athletic games; the propensities are all animal: to 

 gormandize to sleep to gratify lust. During the fruit season, a peon will consume for break- 

 fast a watermelon whose diameter is nine to ten inches, and settle it with a hearty draught of 



