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AMULETS: PRIMITIVE, MODERN 349
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to effect cures, the tlamatque made use of pieces of jade as talismans, fortified by elaborate exorcisms and prayers.1
Among the lower classes of the Mexican Indian population of Milpa Alta, to cure diseases the aid of a tepo pohque (one
who purifies the disease) is sometimes called in. This once very
general custom is, however, gradually falling into» disuse. The
progress of popular scepticism is illustrated by the half-apologetic
tone in which this is explained in the words : "If he does no good, he
will do no harm, and besides he is so cheap." The healer may be either
a man or a woman. One of the most important helps is a chain of
chalchihuitl beads. After invocations of the various appearances of
Christ and of the Virgin chronicled in local tradition, and of the
patron saints (for these Indians are devout Roman Catholics), the
healer chooses out a chalchihuitl bead with which he pretends to
extract the "air" from the sick person. He successively touches with it
the patient's temples, the sides and top of the head, the stomach, and
lastly the affected part, at the same time forcibly drawing in his own
breath, producing thereby a peculiar noise. The use of the stone is
sometimes supplemented by that of two eggs, one being held in each of
the healer's hands. A different type or form of chalchihuitl is used
for each different disease, and as a final operation the affected part
is moistened with alcohol, and then "massaged" with the stone, bathing
with a hot decoction of herbs being also resorted to in some cases.2
A
characteristic object secured in the Province of Chi-riqui, Republic of
Panama, is a singular amulet of a fine quality of green translucent
jade (jadeite). This is fashioned into a conventional representation
of a parrot with a
1
Professera Isabel Bamirez Castafieda, " El Folk-Lore de Milpa Alta, D.
F., Mexico," in Proceedings of the International Congress of
Americanista, XVIII Session, London, 1912, Pt. II, London, 1913, pp.
352-354.
'Ibid.. pp. 356, 357.
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