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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 



and a straw hat of the Mochero type. Her hair was 

 not cared for. and hung about her head in a some- 

 what matted mass. She has a heavily pock-marked 

 face with inward slanting eyes with small bags under 

 them and a good many wrinkles and crows' feet 

 around their edges. Her mouth is wide and the 

 upper incisor teeth are worn ofT at the roots. Her 

 hands were dirty, with long, black-rimmed finger- 

 nails. In general, she looks, on first appearance, a 

 good deal like the proverbial "witch" of the fairy 

 tales. But when in a good humor she is capable 

 of a wide, easy smile that transforms this forbidding 

 visage into a map of merriment, and she is ready 

 with a comfortable chuckling laugh when she is con- 

 vinced one is her friend. 



After we had become acquainted on the first day, 

 it was, of course, incumbent upon me to partake of 

 her hospitality in the form of chicha and causa, and 

 during the refreshment I told her that we had no 

 such methods of curing in the United States and 

 that I was convinced that she probably knew things 

 of which our medical men had never heard. I in- 

 vited her jokingly to come to New York with me, 

 and told her if she would teach me some of her 

 methods we would set up an office together. To 

 this she agreed readily in high good humor and 

 promised that, at all events, before I went back she 

 would give me a complete course in curing. We 

 discussed various cures superficially and I went 

 away well pleased, because I had been warned on 

 all hands that I would never succeed in getting her 

 "secrets" from her. Then, however, I made a series 

 of mistakes. Not having heard from her, after a 

 week I sent an intermediary to ask if I could visit 

 her and start the "course." The answer was evasive. 

 Then I bethought myself to enlist her professional 

 interest. Aly A'oung son was ill in Trujillo with what 

 was ihought to be rheumatic fever, and I asked 

 lier to come and examine him. saying that I thought 

 he might have stisto. She did not reply positively 

 but said to send for her on the coming Friday. I 

 then asked one of her compadrcs to go on Friday 

 to remind her. When she did not appear in Trujillo, 

 I got in touch with the compadrc and discovered that 

 she had driven him out of the house, saying that 

 she would not be ordered about by him and that if 

 Don Juan (meaning me ) wanted her, he could come 

 personally, bringing the child. I then got in touch 

 with her daughter and son-in-law and we went to 

 see her. She told me to stop fooling around with 

 intermediaries, that she would not be treated that 



way, that she knew very well I would not entrust 

 my own child's cure to her, and that anyway she 

 did not want to go to the hotel in Trujillo and have 

 everyone laugh at her. I then told her that she 

 was right and that I had only acted as I had because 

 I did not understand her. Now, I said, if she would 

 talk to me as one "doctor" to another, we would 

 exclude all other persons from our meetings, and 

 I would give her 50 soles as a token of my esteem, 

 provided she was frank with me. If I could find 

 out that she had used a certain method in a cure 

 which she had not told me about. I would deduct 

 10 soles from the total for each such concealment. 

 She was somewhat taken aback by this approach, 

 but shortly agreed, we drank chicha together again, 

 and became friends. For several months thereafter 

 I consulted with her on all matters of citrandisino and 

 found no reason for deducting anything from her 

 gratuity. Even so, I am sure, of course, that I have 

 not learned all about this art in Moche. The photo- 

 graphs reproduced herewith are, so far as I know, 

 the first published series of photographs of certain 

 of her curing methods. 



The following discussion is in terms of locally 

 recognized symptom groups or disease entities. 



SUSTO 



Susto, an abbreviation of asustado (past participle 

 of asusfar, to frighten), is a term widely used 

 throughout Peru (Valdizan and Maldonado. 1922, 

 vol. 1, pp. 61-90) to refer to a generally and 

 popularly recognized type of syndrome believed to 

 be caused by or associated with soul loss. In some 

 parts the term "espanto" is used. The latter term 

 also occurs in Central America, but there the symp- 

 toms and alleged etiology differ in some details 

 (Gillin, Ms.). The wide distribution of this complex 

 must be fully studied, but here I can onlv attempt 

 to deal with it in the local situation. Valdizan states 

 that susto was very prevalent among the "ancient 

 inhabitants of Peru" and that it not only represented 

 an individual nervous upset, but also reflected a 

 "true state of collective anxiety." (Valdizan. 1915, 

 1917; Valdizan and Maldonado, loc. cit.) 



In Moche susto occurs in the following forms : 

 (1) Adult, of which there are two varieties, (a) 

 nearby and (b) distant; and (2) infant. 



Adult snsto is always precipitated by a sudden 

 fright of some kind. Frequently the patient is 

 frightened by an animal, sometimes merely by a 

 sudden gust of wind, a reflection in an irrigation 



