Among the lower classes of the Mexican Indian population of Milpa Alta, to cure diseases the aid of a _tepo pohque_ (one who purifies the disease) is sometimes called in. This once very general custom is, however, gradually falling into disuse. The progress of popular scepticism is illustrated by the half-apologetic tone in which this is explained in the words: “If he does no good, he will do no harm, and besides he is so cheap.” The healer may be either a man or a woman. One of the most important helps is a chain of chalchihuitl beads. After invocations of the various appearances of Christ and of the Virgin chronicled in local tradition, and of the patron saints (for these Indians are devout Roman Catholics), the healer chooses out a chalchihuitl bead with which he pretends to extract the “air” from the sick person. He successively touches with it the patient’s temples, the sides and top of the head, the stomach, and lastly the affected part, at the same time forcibly drawing in his own breath, producing thereby a peculiar noise. The use of the stone is sometimes supplemented by that of two eggs, one being held in each of the healer’s hands. A different type or form of chalchihuitl is used for each different disease, and as a final operation the affected part is moistened with alcohol, and then “massaged” with the stone, bathing with a hot decoction of herbs being also resorted to in some cases.[616] A characteristic object secured in the Province of Chiriqui, Republic of Panama, is a singular amulet of a fine quality of green translucent jade (jadeite). This is fashioned into a conventional representation of a parrot with a disproportionately long beak. The details of the bird-form are but roughly indicated, what is supposed to represent the head and body being but a trifle larger than the beak. In the region of the neck, marked by a peripheral incision, there is a hole through which a cord for suspension was probably passed. The type resembles that of the Chiriquian gold parrots, and differs from that of the amulets of Las Guacas, Costa Rica. As a much larger number of jade objects have been found at this latter place than occur at Chiriqui, it has been conjectured that the common source was a deposit of jade somewhere in Costa Rica.[617] Chiriqui has also yielded a plain, highly-polished amulet of pale green jade; the front is convex and is traversed by a groove; a small hole has been pierced near the top to facilitate suspension.