2()8 



THE PIMA INDIANS 



[ETH. ANN. ;-'li 



Cook, supplied the Pimas with vaccine. They retainetl some of their 

 old dread of the demon and continued to place the bandages with 

 which the arm had been dressed upon a certain mescjuite tree, not 

 daring to burn them for fear of offending. Smallpox has usually 

 been brought to the Pimas by the Papagos from Mexico. Measles 

 appears every three or four years, but does not seem to be any mcire 

 fatal than among the whites, though it is more likely to be followed 

 by consumption. 



Rheumatism of the chronic articular type is fairh' common and is 

 treated like many other pains by scarifj'ing the part affected with 

 bits of broken glass. 



There are a few cases of acquired syphilis among the Pimas and a 

 few due to hereditary taint, but they are fairly free from the disease, 

 considering their habits, and are much more exempt from it than their 

 allies, the Maricopas. 



Diarrhea was supposed to be due to toucliing ripe wheat in the 

 fields, and it was considered necessary for a medicine-man to walk 

 about in the standing grain and blow the danger away with .smoke. 



Bleeding wounds were bandaged; burns were plastered with wet 

 mud; broken limbs were set wdth skill and inclosed in light and 

 strong splints made of reeds. 



Melancholia sometimes afflicts "a man who has killed Apaches" 

 so that he wanders about without clothing and refuses to talk. No 

 treatment is attempted, and the victim dies of neglect. 



Massage is a common form of treatment of almost any disease and 

 of itself is enough to endanger the patient, for it sometimes happens 

 that the operator administers a vigorous pommeling to the abdomen. 



Table of diseases 



