re suffering their accouchement, would
abstain from all flesh and fish, refrain from smoking and all
diversions, and stay within the _Kish_, or hut, from fifteen to
twenty days.

The god of the San Juan Indians was Chinigchinich, and it is possible,
from similarity in the ways of appearing and disappearing, that he is
the monster Tauguitch of the Sabobas and Cahuillas described in The
Legend of Tauguitch and Algoot.[3] This god was a queer compound of
goodness and evil, who taught them all the rites and ceremonies that
they afterwards observed.

[3] See Folk Lore Journal, 1904.

Many of the men and a few women posed as possessing supernatural
powers--witches, in fact, and such was the belief in their power that,
"without resistance, all immediately acquiesce in their demands." They
also had physicians who used cold water, plasters of herbs, whipping
with nettles (doubtless the principle of the counter irritant), the
smoke of certain plants, and incantations, with a great deal of general,
all-around humbug to produce their cures.

But not all the medicine ideas and methods of the Indians were to be
classed as humbug. Dr. Cephas L. Bard, who, besides extolling their
temescals, or sweat-baths, their surgical abilities, as displayed in the
operations that were performed upon skulls that have since been exhumed;
their hygienic customs, which he declares "are not only commendable, but
worthy of the consideration of an advanced civilization,"
states further:

"It has been reserved for the California Indian to furnish
three of the most valuable vegetable additions which have
been made to the Pharmacopoeia during the last twenty years.
One, the Eriodictyon Glutinosum, growing profusely in our
foothills, was used by them in affections of the respiratory
tract, and its worth was so appreciated by the Missionaries
as to be named Yerba Santa, or Holy Plant. The second, the
Rhamnus purshiana, gathered now for the market in the upper
portions of the State, is found scattered through the
timbered mountains of Southern California. It was used as a
laxative, and on account of the constipating effect of an
acorn diet, was doubtless in active demand. So highly was it
esteemed by the followers of the Cross that it was christened
Cascara Sagrada, or Sacred Bark. The third, Grindelia
robusta, was used in the treatment of pulmonary troubles, and
externally