Their most common mode of treatment in cases of sickness was to
scarify the painful locality with the sharp edge of a piece of
obsidian, and suck out the blood with the mouth. In cases of
headache, the forehead was operated on; in a case of colic the
abdomen was treated in the same way, as were also all painful
swellings on any part of the body.

The grand object of the doctor was to make the patient and
family firmly believe that his course of treatment was removing
the cause of the sickness. To aid in strengthening this belief,
after diagnosing the case, and before commencing operations, he
would quietly retire for a short time, ostensibly to get under
the influence of the divine healing spirit, but in reality to
fill his mouth with several small articles, such as bits of wood
or stone; he was then ready to commence treatment. After sucking
and spitting pure blood a few times, he began to spit out with
the blood, one after another, the things he had in his mouth, at
the sight of which all the attendants would join in a chorus of
grunts of astonishment, and the doctor would pretend to be very
much nauseated. In most ordinary cases two or three treatments
effected a cure.

The doctors also made use of certain rare medicinal plants in
treating some diseases. The Indian women have great faith in
charms made of the pungent roots of some rare plants from the
high mountain ranges, which they wear on strings around their
necks, or on a string of beads, to protect them from sickness.

In cases of malignant sores or ulcers on any part of the body,