t
for advice for a sick child, which the course he was pursuing would
soon have put beyond the reach of medicine. Doctor Cabot made him
desist, and in the morning it was so much better that all the people
conceived a good opinion of his abilities, and determined to patronise
him in earnest.

The condition of the whole country in regard to medical aid is
deplorable. Except at Campeachy and Merida there are no regular
physicians, nor even apothecaries' shops. In the villages where there
are curas, the whole duty of attending the sick devolves upon them.
They have, of course, no regular medical education, but practise upon
some old treatise or manuscript recipes, and even in their small
practice they are trammelled by want of medicines. But in villages
where there are no curas, there is no one to prescribe for the sick.
The rich go to Campeachy or Merida, and put themselves under the hands
of a physician; the poor linger and die, the victims of ignorance and
empiricism.

Dr. Cabot's fame as a curer of biscos had spread throughout the
country, and whenever we reached a village there was a curiosity, which
threw Mr. Catherwood and me into the shade, to see the medico.
Frequently we overheard the people say, "Tan joven," "So young:" "Es
muchacho," "He is a boy;" for they associated the idea of age with
that of a great medico. He was often consulted upon cases for which he
could not prescribe with any satisfaction. Treatment which might be
proper at the moment might not answer a few days afterward, and the
greatest annoyance was that, if our travelling chest could not furnish
the medicine, the prescription had to wait an opportunity of being sent
to Merida; but when the medicine arrived, the case might have altered
so much that this medicine had become altogether improper for it. It is
gratifying to know that, in general, his practice gave satisfaction,
yet, at the same time, it must be admitted that there were complaints.
The terms could not well have been made easier, but the ground of
dissatisfaction was, that he did not always furnish medicine as well as
advice. I do not mention this reproachfully, however; throughout the
country he had a fair share of patronage, and the run reached its
climax at Iturbide. Unluckily, the day on which the inhabitants
resolved to take him up in earnest it rained, and we were kept nearly
all the time within doors, and there were so many applications from
men, women, and children, many of w