e appears ground for believing that it
has its origin in certain local circumstances. The verugas first
manifests itself by sore throat, pains in the bones, and other feverish
symptoms. In the course of a few days an eruption of red-colored
pimples, or boils, appears. These pimples sometimes increase in
magnitude, till, in some parts of the body, they become nearly as large
as an egg, and blood flows from them to such an excess, that the
strength of the patient is exhausted, and consumption frequently
follows. From the small verugas the flow of blood is greatest. I knew an
instance of a half-caste Indian who from a small veruga below the ankle
lost two pounds of blood.

I was not able to trace this disease to any other cause than that which
the Indians assign to it. At all events, it is certain that travellers
who abstain from drinking the water of the condemned springs, escape the
verugas; whilst those who only once taste such water, are attacked by
the disorder. It is the same with mules and horses. One of my mules
which drank veruga water was attacked by a large tumor on the leg. The
disease is notoriously prevalent in the village of Santa Olaya.

The medical treatment of the Verugas by the Indians is quite empirical.
They administer to the patient the infusion of a plant which they call
_Huajra-Huajra_; that is, Horn-Horn.[56] I never witnessed any
convincing proof of its efficacy. Its operation appears to be merely
sudorific. A preparation of white maize is also frequently given, and
it has the effect of assisting the action of the skin. When the
eruption of the verugas is tardy, a few spoonfuls of wine are found to
be of great service. Sudorific and purifying medicines, together with
cutting out the large verugas, and keeping the wounds for a time in a
state of suppuration, have heretofore been found the best mode of
treatment. An accurate chemical analysis of the water which the Indians
declare to be _agua de veruga_, would be very desirable.[57]

In the Quebrada of Canta, where the verugas are less common than in
that of Matucanas, another disease, called the Uta, is of very frequent
occurrence. The uta is a sort of cancer, and it is more fearful in its
consequences than the verugas. Probably in no country in the world do
so many local diseases prevail as in Peru. Every valley has its own
peculiar disease, which frequently does not extend beyond the boundary
of a few square miles, and is quite unknown in neigh