PHARMACAL PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 53 



he was likely to be put to death by the relatives and friends of the 

 deceased. However, if, on the other hand, luck was with him, and the 

 majority of patients recovered, he was in time looked upon as a power- 

 ful man, and ranked in importance with a chief. 



Sucking an affected part was a common practice, which owed its 

 undoubted efficacy, in many instances, to its counter-irritating effects. 

 Bleeding was practiced for its congestion-relieving properties. How- 

 ever, by far the most important and most scientific institution of the 

 California Indian is the temescal, or sweat bath or sweat house. This 

 is used by the men of most tribes, though it is affirmed that some tribes, 

 as, for example, the Shoshones, were not familiar with it. The sweat 

 house is generally made of arched willow frames, about four feet high 

 in the center and four or five feet across at the base. A hole is dug 

 near one side, about eighteen inches across and one foot deep. The 

 frame of willow is covered with mats and sacking. When a patient is 

 about to receive treatment, stones are heated to a red heat, placed in 

 the hole of the temescal; the patient enters and sits on a mat. By 

 means of branches of Juniperus occidentalis Hook, the patient sprinkes 

 water upon the hot stones, which is immediately converted into steam, 

 which fills the space within the temescal and causes the very active 

 perspiration of the patient. In about half an hour the patient rushes 

 forth and takes an immediate plunge bath in a nearby stream. Mrs. 

 Manning, who has taught for years among the Piute Indians of Surprise 

 Valley, Modoc County, Cal., states that the Piutes omit the plunge 

 bath, apparently substituting therefor a rub-down ; nor are the juniper 

 twigs always used. 



The sweat house is generally a family or individual affair, though in 

 some instances one house is large enough to be used by all of the sick 

 members of an entire camp, and is generally presided over by a female 

 doctor. It is usually built near a stream, for reasons already given. 

 In many instances the fire for heating the stones is started in the fall 

 and kept alive until the following spring. Some patients sleep in the 

 temescal all winter. The frame is covered over almost airtight, and is 

 opened only long enough to permit the entrance or exit of a patient. 



The value of the sweat bath in the treatment of rheumatism, and to 

 promote the action of the skin, was fully appreciated. In some local- 

 ities the sweat house is not necessary, on account of the accessibility of 

 natural hot springs, the curative powers of which are known even to 

 animals, as bears. 



With regard to medicinal herbs, many are used, though only a com- 

 paratively small number are credited with having marked curative 

 properties. Reliable information regarding the properties ascribed to 

 them, and the exact manner in which they are used, is very difficult to 



