60 / 1060
\
·
Royal Commentaries.
Book
II.
hours time
it
begins to work with fuch fqueamHhnefs in the Stomach, and fuch
giddinefs in the Head, that they feel the fame indifpofttion, as thofe who ·Jabour
of
Sea-ficknefs,
and purges them both upwards and downwards with fuch vio–
lence, that
it
brings away worms, and all kmd of indigeQed matter, notwithfian.
ding which, having finifhed its operaLion,
it
leaves the body firong and
without
decay of Spirits, and with a fharp and hungry appetite:
All
which
I
ean
bold–
ly
attefr, having
my
felf
provea it, and
cak~n
it twice
for.
a pain in
my
Sto~
ma
ch.
·
/
Thefe
Cutes
by purging
and bleeding were commonly performed by old
W
o--
~
menj or by fome certain Botanills, who
in
the
times
of the
lncM
were famous
for
the knowledge they profef!ed in the virtue of Herbs; and thefe by Tradition
transferred the fecrets of their learning
to
their Sons, who
did
not profefs to
be
Fhyficians common
to
all, but to apply their
Art
onely for medicining their
Kings,
and
CuracM,
and fuch
as
were lineally defcended from them;
but
the ordinary
People cured one the other, by fuch Medicines
a
\'ere of common Report.
When fucking Infants were fick of any difea[e, efpecially if it were a Fever, or
(_ alenture, they wafhed them every morning
in
Urine, and then wrap_ped them
up, giving them fome of their own Water to drihk. At the Birth of their Chil–
dren,
hen the Midwife cut the firing of the N avel , they lefi: it
at
leafi a finger
in length; which when it fell off from the Child ofit felf, they conferved it cate–
fully, and
on any occafion of indifpofition, of
v
hich a whitenelS
in
the Mouth of
the Child
was
their ufual fyrnptome, they gave
it
to fuck of this
firing,
which
commonly proved an a!fured remedy.
·
What Reafons they had
for
thefe Secrets of Nature
I
know not,
nor
did
I
ever
ask.
I am
fure they made no conjeetures
by
the throbs of the Pulfe, much lefs
by Urine, having no other Symptoms of a Calenture, than wha.t appeared by the
exceffive heat and burnings of the Body. Their Purges and
leedings were more
commonly
u[ed
when the Patient
was
but a little indifpofed, and was able
to
walk, but not after he had yielded to the Difeafe, fer then
rliey
committed
hirri
onely
to
the firength of Nature, and
a
regular Diet, they never arrived to
the
knowledge of Clyfl:ers, or to Unguents or P1afiers; the cold and fhaking fit of
a Qgartan they called
Chucchu,
the hot
fit
Rupar,
which
is
burning, the
·hich
Indifpofitions they
greatly feared by reafon
of
the
uneafine!S they felt both
by
cold
anq
heat.
CH· A P.
XIII.
Of their
Medicinal Herbs, and Phyfical Pl.;;ints.
T
Hey
have
a
certain Tree
which
they ca11
Mulli,
and the
Spaniard.!
M olle,
which
fwe._ats
forth
a
kind of
rafomy
juice, \ ·hich
hath a
mofl: fovereign quality
for the cure of green Wounds ; the
~rb
or
fhrub, called
Chi/lea,
being he
t
0
d in
an earthen pan, hath done
onderfuil effetts on thofe who have been n·oubled
with a pain in the joints and bones, raken
y
cold; they have a certain root, like
the
root
or
lbres of
Gra [s,
but fomething
groffer, and fuller of lmots, the name
of
.it
I
do not v:ell remember, which they make ufe of
to
fi:rengthtn the Teeth;
and
fortify
the Gums; and in the preparing of
it
they
roafr
it in the hot
embers~
and \l\'hen it· very hot they apply
it
to the Gums on each fide of the mouth
1
keeping
it
unrill
it is
cold, \
hicn
is
of grear: torment
to
the
Patient; for
it fcald9
the mouch exceedingly.
This
Remedy they apply
in
the E\iening, and
next
morning doe the like,
fo
that
their Gums and Mouth look like roafied fleili, and
for two o three days are not able to
che"~,
or receive other nourifhment than
by
a
fpoon; afterwards the ' hite
flefh
of the
Gums
\Yhich
hath
been cauterized
in
this manner,
beg·
os
to fall
off, and a
ne't '
and \
·till
co
oured
fort
of
Gum
r
fuong
--