54 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



even higher order than maize, for while maize is merely the food of the 

 body, mescal is the food of the soul. It is indeed the supreme food, and 

 on that account is offered to the gods. Like maize, mescal has tutelary 

 deities and a special goddess. Its psychic manifestations are considered 

 a supernatural grace bringing man into relation with the gods; while 

 in moderation it enables men to face the greatest fatigues and to bear 

 hunger and thirst for five days, that is during the fast prescribed by 

 the laws of Majakuagy. It is said that when Majakuagy was engaged 

 in preaching his doctrines he and his disciples had to flee from persecu- 

 tion. In the course of his flight he broke his food vessels near San Luis 

 Potosi, and the gods in mercy changed the fragments into mescal. The 

 Indians only gather it in October, just before the dry season; it is said 

 that it is only at this time that it contains its active properties. The 

 third maize feast, which takes place at the beginning of October, is 

 regarded as a prelude to the mescal festival and dances. An expedi- 

 tion is organized to the spot near San Luis Potosi, where the prophet's 

 utensils were transformed into mescal, to gather the sacred plant. This 

 expedition takes a month ; those who lead it march in front, reciting or 

 chanting prayers; the others follow with the pack-animals to carry the 

 harvest. A few days before reaching the holy spot the members of the 

 expedition practise a rigorous fast. They also perform a sort of public 

 penance with expiation. As they return, there is great rejoicing in all 

 the villages through which they pass, and mescal is offered on the 

 altars and fragments given to every person met. Sufficient is reserved 

 for the great festivals, and the rest is sold to those who took no part in 

 the expedition. 



The Huichol Indians, who occupy part of the territory covered by 

 Diguet's investigations, have been carefully investigated as regards their 

 religious symbolism by Dr. Lumholtz, who touches on the mescal (or, 

 as it is here called, hikuli) cult.* He states that the expedition to 

 obtain the plant goes to a place near the mining town of Keal Catorce 

 in October, but that the great festival only takes place in January. 

 Abstinence from sexual intercourse is part of the cult, and it is noted 

 that the use of the plant temporarily removes all sexual desire. The 

 balance of the body is said to be maintained better than usual, and 

 under its influence men walk fearlessly on the edge of precipices, and 

 endure hunger, thirst and fatigue to an incredible extent. Lumholtz 

 states that the festival is connected with the god of fire. We may 

 account for this by the luminous nature of the visions caused by mescal 

 and by the influence of a blazing fire in stimulating those visions. 



The same author, in the course of an account of 'Tarahumari 

 Dances and Plant- Worship' f has described the cult of mescal among 



* Carl Lumholtz, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 Vol. III., Anthropology, II., 1900. 



f Scribner's Magazine, Oct., 1894. 



