She held the sore foot
in her lap, and stroked it; she murmured to the anito to go away;
she bent low over the foot, and about a dozen times she well feigned
vomiting, and each time she spat out a large amount of saliva. At no
time could purposeful exhalations be detected, and no explanation of
her feigned vomiting could be gained. It is not improbable that when
she bent over the foot she was supposed to be inhaling or swallowing
the anito which she later sought to cast from her. In half an hour
she succeeded in "removing" the offender, but the foot was "sick"
for four days longer, or until the deep-seated bruise discharged
through a scalpel opening. The woman unquestionably succeeded in
relieving the boy's mind.
When a person is ill at his home he sends for an in-sup-ak', who
receives for a professional visit two manojos of palay, or two-fifths
of a laborer's daily wage. In-sup-ak' are not appointed or otherwise
created by the people, as are most of the public servants. They are
notified in a dream that they are to be in-sup-ak'.
As compared with the medicine man of some primitive peoples the
in-sup-ak' is a beneficial force to the sick. The methods are all
quiet and gentle; there is none of the hubbub or noise found in the
Indian lodge -- the body is not exhausted, the mind distracted, or
the nerves racked.
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