In the winter when the nights are cold the Indians often lie out all night in the wet, a practice which frequently results in pneumonia and death. Hookworms and many other varieties of intestinal parasites are prevalent, owing to the earth-eating habits of the children, the earth being taken usually from the immediate vicinity of the house, where pigs and other domestic animals have their quarters. This disgusting habit no doubt accounts in part for the swollen bellies and earthy color of many of the children. Smallpox (_ǩak_) invading an Indian village is a terrible scourge, far worse than in a more civilized community of the same size, where partial immunity has been acquired. Sometimes the whole unaffected population depart en masse, leaving the dead unburied and the stricken lying in their hammocks, with a supply of food and water, to do the best they can for themselves. The Indians employ the same mode of treatment for this disease as for malarial fever--sweating followed by immersion in cold water, treatment which, it need hardly be said, is not infrequently followed by disastrous results. Venereal diseases of all kinds are remarkably rare among all the Indian tribes. Among the Santa Cruz and Icaichè such diseases were practically unknown. Even among the mixed breeds of British Honduras they are comparatively rare, notwithstanding the fact that these natives have come much in contact with people of many other races, especially of late years with Mexican Chicleros, nearly all of whom are affected with venereal disease in one form or another. Simple fractures of the long bones are set very neatly and skillfully in the following way: The fractured limb is pulled away from the body with considerable force in order to overcome the displacement; over the fractured bone is wound a thick layer of cotton wool, and over this are applied a number of small round, straight sticks, completely surrounding the limb, their centers corresponding nearly to the seat of fracture; these are kept in place by a firm binding of henequen cord. The limb, if an arm, is supported in a sling; if a leg, the patient is confined to his hammock till the fracture is firmly knit. Excellent results are secured by this method, the union being firm, and the limb nearly always uniting in good position. Bleeding, a favorite remedy for all complaints, is especially resorted to in cases of headache and malarial fever. Usually the temporal vein, less frequently one of the veins in the front of the forearm, is opened, having been first distended with blood by tying a ligature around the upper arm. A chip of obsidian, a sharp splinter of bone, or a snake's tooth, serves as a crude lancet; the use of the last causes considerable pain, but is believed to have some esoteric virtue connected with it.