There is a reason. In some instances the white man did not get the correct information from his Indian brother due to the latter’s inability to make himself understood—this was, of course, also true of the former. Again, some information given was intentionally wrong due to the ill-feeling the Indian had for the white man. And again, many of those healing plants were held in such veneration by the Indians, that to impart their virtues to a white man was an unpardonable crime, and the punishment meted out to the offender was of the severest form.
I am an Indian, proud of it and of my forefathers, whose bitterness toward the white man was only too well justified. But time changes all things and bitterness and hatred never made for understanding nor happiness.
In this spirit I wrote this book, in the spirit of doing good. And in this I have the help and permission of my dear uncle, Chief Pablo, of the Mahuna tribe of Indians of Southern California, who permitted me to describe certain plants whose curative properties have been kept a secret by the Indians for over one hundred years. This is the first time they are made known.
The Indian, living close to and with nature—the greatest teacher of all for those who have eyes to see—became nature’s most intelligent pupil. Gifted with the keenest observation and the ability to reason, he searched the discovered plants which nature herself had provided for any ailment, sickness, or mishap which might befall him.
I am sending this book out into the world not for fame, but as a messenger of goodwill and peace. May it be received in this spirit and accomplish its mission.
The Story of the Indians of the Pacific Southwest
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.