ESQUIPULAS AND QUIRIGUA. 
205 
or diseased, many animals, and other objects of human 
desire or solicitude, were to be found here. To our matter- 
of-fact Northerners it may be necessary to explain the 
theory and object of these works of native platerias. 
Medical men and surgeons are almost unknown in the 
remote regions of Central America, and a sick or injured 
man, while applying all known remedies, sends also to 
the nearest platero , or silversmith (common enough 
among the aborigines), and lias a model of the affected 
part made; this token some friend, if the patient be un¬ 
able to make the journey himself, carries to the mysterious 
image, whose power to heal he devoutly believes in. It 
is a faith, rather than a mind, cure. The barren woman 
in the northern climes, instead of being bowed down with 
her sad lot, obtains an easy consolation in a pug or lap- 
dog ; but her Indian sister takes a truer view of the pur¬ 
pose of her life, and in her prayerful longing devotes in 
effigy the coveted offspring, — much as Hannah, the wife 
of Elkanah, devoted the unbegotten Samuel to the Lord. 
Like the Hebrew barren wife, the Indian goes up on a 
pilgrimage to the most sacred shrine, makes her offering, 
and breathes her prayer. The Eli of the Sanctuary bids 
her 66 go in peace.” 
The accumulated offerings of gold and silver images 
are sold to pay the charges of the Templo, — not always, 
however; for report has it that the Government some 
years ago seized fifty thousand dollars’ worth of this 
treasure and appropriated it to its own use. 
Dr. Jose invited us to share his room, which we gladly 
did. He had just returned from Honduras, and was on 
his way to an Indian city in Guatemala where was buried, 
to his certain information, an immense treasure of the 
