The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-18

die natural death are supposed to be vic
Tins OF witches. had most Of the pract ise
there, for while they we're hunting wit ohes
! was giving pills, and saved them and
made reput atoms for lot OF rivals.
Then l got worn out at the missio nary
tons. ! prad ised first among the Veddas,
eat people l ever met they are, in the
first place, the thinneSt and most ENACT at ed
race in the world. The anti-fat specialist
who would advocate their met hods would
and succeeded, but they did not appreciat Q
i for in the eyes Of heir friends they were
hideous. lhese people never wash and
never langh-so they never grow fat.
From there | went into Burma and
hung np my single among the Chins, one
akin to the Chinese. Cholera came among
them while | was there but this time l did
better The native method OF treating
cholera is to go into the bushes with guns
and hunt evil spirits. The lessons learned
in the lrak country proved valuable.
succeeded in stopping human sacrifices.
The people of Banzam, where | practised,
claimed that some one had been cutting
the sacred groves and they hunted for
those criminals all the time, letting me do
all the practising.
After that l determined to get into a
colder climate, and for one winter ! prac-
tised among the koriaks, up near the base OF
the Kamchatkan peninsula. Ny methods
were too mild for them. The way a native
physician treats sick man there Is to catch
house. Then IL he does not get up and 90
to work and pretend he is cured. he ia killed
] saved couple of patients by massa ging
stiff muscles.
THAT practise was too strenuous for me,
and the next year found me studying new
m
bush; Here | came in conflict with the
'blackfellow' doctor, who is quite as ef-
fective as the ordinary American quack
These doctors fly up In the air at night
and come down trees, and they throw Bris-
toll diamonds at patients during the dark
ness. They have, according to their pa =
tents n bone in their stomac chs, and splin-
tiers of it are CAUSED to enter their patients
and cure the disease. They see old man
kangaroos in their dreams and they carry
'plongges,' or big clubs, with which they
touch enemies and cause them to die. No
man among them ever dies natural death
but all are killed by witchcraf IT and the main
treatment of patients consists in leaving
them alone and hunting the witches-which
is the best part of their system. They
did not take kindly to my treatments.
For two wears ! fought galloping
consumptio ion among the Maoris in New
Zealand-but it was useless. One can't cure
consumption and it would take century to
educate the natives into preventive meas
ures and by that time they will all he dead.
The women wear furs, heavy cloaks, fan
nels. rugs and wraps while making calls
and then come home and dress in thin
cotton skirt They seek pleasure at the
dampest spot they can find and the edge Of
a swamp Is their favorite building site.
The men wear overcoats in summer and
leave them off in winter and they all live
toget her.
They are dying like sheep, but they re-
fuse to change their Gust so there u
no Use for physicians what they need Is
grave diggers.
Finally wound up my career as a ply
stefan among the Hawaiians and com
bat ed the priests trying to practise medi.
cine while they hunt ed witches and evil
spirits. | was not ethical and got little
trade.
II was present at one cure The girl
patient had an acute attack Of indigest ion,
and | persuad ed her to take some salts.
Meantime the priest accused man Of in
citing evil spirits to enter the girls body
and make her sick. The accused was re-
auircd to hold his hand over o bowl Of wat er.
If it trembled he was guilty. ] noticed the
priest rse up and come down, and the
scourged and the evil spirits left the girls
body. left her anot her dose Of salts and
st art ed home.
Even so. these strange peoples whom
have tried to cure are but lit le worse than
we. found several valuable herb reme-
dies among them. and even In their witch
hunts they are hut little more superst iols
regarding sickness than the people OF the
Unit ted States.
Whenever | see man carrying a buck
eve in his pocket to cure local disease
think of the witch hunts-and must say
that the witch hunters usually gave strenu-
Gus doses of herbs just before starting out
to hunt the wit CHI"