Both the sacred little cactus called hikuli and the maguey have undoubtedly medicinal properties, but the administration of these remedies, especially of the former, is connected with so many rites and ceremonies that their therapeutic value becomes obscured.  The curative power of tesvino is absolutely magical, and this is the remedy to which recourse is most commonly had.  In administering it the shaman makes his customary passes, and exhales over the patient to blow away the disease.  He also dips a small cross into the liquor, and with the wetted end taps the sick man on the head, neck, shoulders, and back, and draws crosses over his arms.  Finally the patient is given three spoonfuls of the liquor, while all the members of the family stand around and murmur approvingly, “Thank you, thank you.”  Occasionally tesvino is exclusively used for curing, with the aid of two small crosses, one of red Brazil wood, the other of white pine.  If he chooses, a shaman may provoke illness as well as cure it, but he cannot cure the person he made ill.

When a shaman is asked to cure a person of any complaint, real or imaginary, his first move is to find the cause of the trouble.  According to his opinion illness is brought on either by the wind or by sorcery.  From the former kind of disease nobody dies, although the heart, the liver, or the head may be attacked; but the other kind is serious.  Sorcerers may put snakes into the legs, and such animals as centipedes, toads, larvae, scorpions, or even small bears into the body of some unfortunate person, and these disturbers have to be drawn out at once or else they will eat the sick man’s heart.  The shaman therefore first feels the patient all over, to find if something—­in other words, the disease-bringing animal—­is moving underneath the skin.  Illness may also result from small stones, or the spine of the nopal placed in the body by the same agency.

A person suspected of having been bewitched is told to hold his mouth open to the sun, that the shaman may see whether the evil entered the body through this aperture.  People become bewitched at night through the openings of the body, and the shaman also examines the nostrils, ears, etc.  It is also the shaman’s business to find out who caused the trouble, and since he can see more than ordinary people he is able to track the offender.

Some people by their mere looks or thoughts are liable to make a. person ill.  Such illness may be brought on in retaliation for some slight or offence, and may even result in death.  The first thoughts of a person falling ill are:  Whom have I offended?  What have I taken that I should have left alone, and what have I kept that I should have given?  Then the shaman may tell him to find the person to whom he had refused to give food, and the sick one and his wife go from house to house asking the people:  “Was it you whom I refused food?  Someone has made me ill, and I want him to make me well again.”  If he can find the person whom he had offended, and arrange matters with him, he will recover.