454 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
CHAP. 
of Canelos, and my coffee gave out, I made tea of 
guayiisa leaves, and found it very palatable. The 
Jibaros make the infusion so strong that it becomes 
positively emetic. The guayusa-pot, carefully 
covered up, is kept simmering on the fire all night, 
and when the Indian wakes up in the morning he 
drinks enough guayiisa to make him vomit, his 
notion being that if any food remain undigested on 
the stomach, that organ should be aided to free 
itself of the encumbrance. Mothers give a strong 
draught of it, and a feather to tickle the throat with, 
to male children of very tender age. I rather think 
its use is tabooed to females of all ages, like caapi 
on the Uaupes. Indians are not by any means so 
solicitous to empty the bowels early in the day as 
to clear out the stomach. On the contrary, all 
through South America I have noticed that when 
the Indian has a hard day's work before him, and 
has only a scanty supply of food, he prefers to go 
until night without an evacuation, and he has 
greater control over the calls of nature than the 
white man has. Their maxim, as an Indian at San 
Carlos expressed it to me in rude Spanish, is 
" Quien caga de manana es guloso " (he who. goes 
to stool in a morning is a glutton). 
• • « • • • 
From all that has been said, it may be gathered 
that the domestic medicine of the South American 
Indians is chiefly hygienic, as such medicine ought 
to be, it being of greater daily importance to 
preserve health than to cure disease. If their 
physicians be mere charlatans, their lack of skill 
may often be compensated by the ignorant faith of 
their patients ; and their methods are scarcely more 
