326 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
pleasant climate, there can be no doubt of its general 
healthiness when one sees how many very old people 
are in it. On the i6th of the present month an old 
lady died here at the age of one hundred and eleven \ 
Her living descendants, including some great-great- 
grandchildren, are said to be exactly as many as the 
years of her life. 
Piura is considered the sovereignest place on 
earth for the cure of " rheumatic " {^lege " syphilitic ") 
affections. Many wonderful cures are reported ; 
but the treatment is rather severe. It is as follows : 
First, you pay the priest to say " novenas " — that is, 
masses on nine consecutive days — on your behalf ; 
on each of these days you drink copiously of a warm 
decoction of sarsaparilla towards midday, and then 
your friends take you outside the town and bury 
you up to the neck in the burning sand, shielding 
your head with a broad straw hat and an umbrella. 
There you perspire in such a way as to bring out 
all the mercury you may have taken, and to reduce 
your swollen joints to their proper dimensions. 
Now you may see the use of the masses, for if you 
survive the operation (which is not always) they 
serve to express your thankfulness ; and if you die 
under it, you will need not only those nine masses, 
but several additional ones — for which you make 
due provision in your last will and testament — to 
secure the repose of your soul. 
Piura is perhaps the most superstitious place I 
have seen in South America, although Quito is far 
gone that way ; but I can tolerate even superstition 
when it is harmless and picturesque. As I write, 
at 8 P.M. of the eve of " Nuestra Sefiora de los 
Dolores," the bells are ringing to call the devout 
