In Chile there are large tracts of sparsely populated territory where there are neither doctors nor drug stores, and in such communities it is necessary in case of illness for the people to resort to home remedies. In these rural communities there are many old women who assume the rôle of doctresses, calling themselves “Medicas.” They are absolutely ignorant of medicine or its effect upon the human system, yet with their odd preparations of herbs they sometimes effect cures within a very short time. However, it is said that they more frequently kill than cure the persons they treat. Should the patient live for several days under the treatment of the Medica, and then die, nothing is said by the friends of the deceased, but should the victim succumb with the first dose the doctress is asked to change her residence at once. “Brujeria,” or witchcraft, is common among the women in the lower classes in Chile, many of whom claim to be “brujas,” or sorceresses. The women profess to be able to inflict strange and wonderful punishment upon their enemies, or persons who refuse to accede to their demands. The most common delusion of these superstitious people, especially the women, is the power of the “brujas” to place reptiles or insects in their stomachs. Frequently when one becomes ill or distressed with a pain, she is possessed with the idea that she has been bewitched, declaring that she has a frog, a toad, a snake, spider, or other object in her stomach, placed there by a sorceress. These poor women believe that they cannot recover from an illness of this sort until they have made peace with the person having bewitched them, which means the giving of money or its equivalent in presents. It is a sort of faith cure, and any other treatment seems useless, as it will not dispel the delusion. The man or woman with dropsy or other affliction will almost invariably attribute the malady to an evil sorceress. These superstitions even extend to matters of business and chance with the country people. The methods employed by these witches are curious and ridiculous. Many claim, and the claims are accepted as true, to be able by slipping into the presence of an enemy and burning a certain kind of herb or vegetable, to place the person in their power. In some cases persons so bewitched assume a form of madness, which unfits them for service, and sometimes makes them dangerous. Many of these people claim to cure disease by prayer. There are few diseases among the ignorant country people attributed to legitimate causes. They are believed to be due to the influence of witches; to be ill from any cause is to be bewitched. It is one of the many superstitions inherited from Indian ancestors, and is deep rooted in the minds of the people.