36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. G4 



ishment is inflicted for witchcraft or sorcery, as the pulya, or sor- 

 ceress, is greatly dreaded by the Indians. She is literally chopped 

 Imib from limb; but whereas the bodies of other victims executed 

 in this way are always buried, that of the pulya is left for the dogs 

 and vultures to dispose of. 



Military service is compulsory for all adult males among the 

 Santa Cruz, though many avoid such service by payment to the 

 chief of a certain sum in money or its equivalent. Small garrisons 

 were kept up at Santa Cruz, Chan Santa Cruz, Bacalar, and other 

 Indian towns where soldiers were permanently stationed. No uni- 

 form was provided, though many of the men were armed with 

 "Winchester rifles. They were provided also with a ration of corn 

 and beans, and often took their wives along with them as cooks. 



Diseases and Medicines 



Indian men and "Nyomen of all ages and classes, when attacked 

 by any serious malady, are found to be lacking in vitality and 

 stamma; they relinquish hope, and relax their grip on life very easily, 

 seeming to hold it lightly and as not worth a fight to retain. 

 An elderly man or woman will sometunes take to the hammock 

 without apparent physical symptoms of disease beyond the anemia 

 and splenitis from which nearly all suffer, and merely announce 

 He in cimli, "I am going to die." They refuse to eat, drink, 

 or talk, wrap themselves in a sheet from head to foot, and finally 

 do succumb in a very short time apparently from sheer lack of 

 vitality and absence of desire to continue living. 



Malaria is without doubt the chief scourge of the Indian's existence. 

 Many of the villages are built in low-lying situations, with mosquito- 

 breeding swamps aU round them, while the scrubby bush and rank 

 vegetation are allowed to grow in the yards right up to the houses, 

 furnishing good cover and an excellent lurking place for the insects; 

 moreover, the Indians seldom use mosquito curtains, as they seem 

 to have acquu"ed a sort of immunity to the irritation caused at night 

 by the noise and biting of the pests. Practically all Indians suffer 

 from malaria, which is the main cause of the splenic enlargement and 

 anemia so prevalent among them. In some cases the spleen reaches 

 an enormous size, nearly filling the abdominal cavity, and deaths from 

 a slight blow or fall, causing rupture of this organ, are by no means 

 uncommon. Malaria is usually treated by means of profuse sweating 

 (Mlcahanhil) , the patient lying wrapped in a cotton sheet in the 

 hammock, with a fire burning beneath and drinking sudorific bush 

 medicine. This in itself is an excellent remedy, but in the midst of 

 the sweat patients frequently plunge into cold water, thu« becoming 

 thoroughly chilled, a procedure very apt to bring on pneumonia, to 

 which they are peculiarly subject. 



