A gruesome, terrible year, the year of 1825! The fatal year when
thousands of Indians of the Pacific Southwest were destroyed by that
merciless, frightful scourge, smallpox. And the tradition of its ravages
is kept alive even today among the descendants of the few who escaped
death.
The tribal herb doctors at that time were wholly unprepared to combat
this disease which wrought such fearful havoc. Sweeping along the entire
Pacific Coast, it exacted a heavy toll of human lives, so heavy, in
fact, that the number of Indians destroyed exceeded that of the American
lives lost on the battlefields during World War I.
The epidemic ravaged not only the Pacific Coast. It even spread over the
adjacent territories, carrying death everywhere it struck.
Not until the end of that terrible year did some of the Indian herb
doctors begin to devote their attention to the disease. And then,
calling upon all there was in their knowledge of medicinal plants, the
chieftains, accompanied by their medicine men, held a council at which
the matter of curing this destructive disease was brought under serious
discussion.
That memorable meeting took place in the world-famous Palm Canyon,
bordering the eastern slopes of San Jacinto Peak—better known to us by
its true native name of _Tahquitz_—situated at the extreme eastern part
of Riverside County.
After the adjournment of the meeting the chiefs and medicine men
dispersed, returning to their respective tribes to resume their regular
duties, each one with instructions to study ways and means which would
effectively eradicate the scourge so greatly feared by all Indians.
Now, among those who had attended the meeting was Senior Chief Andres
Lucero, of the Mahuna tribe, who was looked upon by all Indians as the
possessor of the greatest knowledge of botanical medicine, and a
master-teacher among his fellow tribesmen who rightly considered him as
being without a peer in his field—thorough research and experimentation.
In his experimental work he was more successful than any other, having
had many years of experience. In addition, he possessed valuable medical
knowledge which for centuries had been handed down from generation to
generation, each recipient becoming a true master in the field of Indian
medical science.
The men trained in the science of medicine were those who had a natural
aptitude and inclination for the care of the sick—that is, men worthy of
being selected to be taught anatomy and the various ailments of the
human body.
Evidence of this is to be seen in paintings and hieroglyphics found in
our Indian caves, which, in due time, it will be my duty to use in
photographic illustration in order to correct many erroneous
interpretations existing in collections and writings.
To return to the beginning of our narrative, Andres Chino Pablo, while
deeply pondering one day on the problem of what to give his stricken
people, bethought himself suddenly of how in previous years he had
treated violent fevers.
One was the fever which accompanied pneumonia and which was, at times,
fully as dangerous as any fever known to mankind. But it was easily
overcome through the administration of compounded herb steam baths.
In the course of time “Black Measles” made, by mere accident, its first
appearance in the Pacific Southwest, again causing widespread terror
among the Indians. However, Chief Andres Lucero had already decided what
to do to check the epidemic. Standing calm and cool one morning and
facing the rising sun, he called his people to him, everyone, young and
old. Like a shaft of granite he stood, straight and erect, his eyes
scanning carefully each member of his tribe. At last, with tears in his
eyes, showing how deeply moved he was at the woe of his people, he
announced his decision. His words were few:
“My sons and daughters, as the Great Spirit arises in the East, he comes
to help us and he has given me the medicine and the power to cure all
those of you who are sick. You will now go to the big cave where you
will receive proper care and treatment. All of you shall go, even those
who are not suffering from this devil’s disease. And you will all be
treated alike so that your blood shall be purified to guard you against
the disease.”
In other words, to render them “immune,” in our language of today.
Now, one of the many caves in the San Jacinto mountain range, one which
formerly had been used for religious studies in Chino Canyon, was
converted into a cave-hospital and thousands of Indians were treated
therein.
Due to the supposition, at the time, that the measles, then an unknown
malady among the Indians, was really another form of smallpox—the
diagnosis made didn’t differ materially from the latter—the conclusion
arrived at was to treat the disease accordingly.
A tireless and stubborn fight was waged by Chief Andres Lucero. Day and
night he labored indefatigably, not only attending to his people, but
also instructing other chieftains what to do and what to use, thus
letting them share in his success in healing the sick.
Later on, the disease appeared in Twenty Nine Palms, in Borrego Valley,
Indio, Coachella, Yuma, Temecula, Mojave, Tehachapi, Soboba—in fact, in
all the small Indian settlements throughout the desert and mountain.
Chief Andres Lucero was extremely satisfied with the results of his
labors which had laid the cornerstone of knowledge and preparedness for
the year of 1859, when a true epidemic of smallpox made its appearance
again.
Investigations revealed that the scourge had started (_Temamaka_) to the
north and had come (_Kichamba_) southward. Again the eye beheld the sad
scenes of dead human bodies strewn along the valleys and mountains. The
worst suffering was among the Indian tribes dwelling to the northward,
who had shown a complete disregard of Chief Andres Chino Pablo, and paid
no attention whatever to his messages and warnings.
However, the Chief stuck to his post until he saw his people safe. Those
who died were comparatively few. The dead were those who, becoming
panic-stricken through memories brought to their minds of former
happenings, had fled into the desert. Had they but conquered their fears
and obeyed the Chief’s orders, nothing would have happened to them.
Those were the victims of the plague—the deserters from the tribes. The
smallpox was kept well under control in the settlements with only a two
per cent death rate, which means practically nothing when compared with
a previous death rate of fifty per cent caused by the same kind of
plague. In some localities it rose to almost ninety per cent. Truly
those were dark days indeed for the American Indians.
I shall now give, roughly, the medicinal plants used then and again in
the same manner in the year 1918 when the “Black Plague,” commonly known
as “Spanish Influenza” was raging throughout the American continent and
Europe. It was a strange coincidence, indeed, that a great many of those
who escaped death from the enemy’s bullets on the battlefield perished
from the “Black Plague.” The Indians, however, again won their battle
against this frightful disease by the same means which had been employed
against measles and smallpox with no loss of life whatsoever.
What a worthy and successful experiment it had proved to be under the
wise guidance of Chief Andres Lucero, of the Mahuna Indians of
Guana-pia-pa! He was truly a noble character whose labors, love for his
people, and self-sacrifice saved the lives of thousands of Indians, and
without whose loyalty and kindness to other tribesmen, the American
Indian in the Pacific Southwest would be an extinct race of people
today, with no one to tell what had actually taken place in the wild
mountain regions and the desolate desert, which were neither inhabited
nor trespassed upon by the white race.
The Indians compounded steam-bath herbs for the cure of “Black Measles”
and smallpox from the following:
Indian Name
_Artemisia tridentata_ Ulu-ca-hul-vall
_Larrea mexicana_ Ato-col
_Piperacea_ Chu-co-pot
_Eriodictyon glutinosum californicum_ Ta-que-bel
_Adiantum capillus-Veneris_ Tal-wal
Herb tea given to the patients was made from the following:
_Ephedra_ Tut-tut
_Sambucus pubens_ Haa-saat
Please bear in mind that the Indian name Tut-tut bestowed upon the plant
_Ephedra_ means something that pertains to the very sacred in Indian
medicinal art. This sacred Indian name befitted the plant for the great
medical value it possessed and for the important part it played in
stamping out the horrible smallpox plague of 1857.
Thus came about the saving of Indian lives.
Help us save and preserve the wild plants for the benefit of mankind.
Chief William Pablo, III
_Medicine Man_
_Mahum and Guana-pia-pa_
meaning:
_White Water and Palm Springs area, California_