494 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the maize god and many ceremonies attended their annnal festival. At har- 

 vest time they proceeded to the corn fiekls, selected the fairest and best filled 

 ear. This they bore to the village, placed it upon an altar decked with flow- 

 ers, sang and danced before it, wrapped it in a white cloth and then, with 

 renewed procession and solemn rites, the magic ear was buried in the midst 

 of the corn fields in a small opening lined with stones. The next year this 

 was dug up and its broken remains distributed to the people as a talisman 

 against all kinds of evil. Kohl in his Kitchi-Gami relates that one year there 

 was such abundance of corn, that the Indians let it rot upon the ground and 

 the children fought each other with the stalks and threw them in the mud. 

 Soon want overtook them, and it was not till one of the tribe who had taken 

 no part in the indignities offered to the corn, received a communication from 

 amanitou, directing him as to what should be done, and abundant sacrifices 

 were made, the spirit of the corn was appeased, and returned them abundant 

 harvests ever afterward. The Miamis had a tradition similar to this, but in 

 their case the spirit was offended because they threw the cobs of corn at each 

 other in their play. 



The Iroquois had three mythological characters in the form of beautiful 

 sisters, the spirits of maize, of the bean and of squashes. Many of the tribes, 

 when they gathered herbs, sacrificed to the spirit of the plant by leaving a 

 part of it in the place left vacant. 



Among savage peoples all plants that produce great nervous excitement or 

 a state of lethargy are supposed to have supernatural power. In Peru to- 

 bacco was called the sacred hub, and throughout all America it was looked 

 upon with reverence. It was used in all ceremonies and was the material 

 which filled the pipe of peace. This reverence has extended until to-day, in 

 some form or other, it is worshiped by a large part of the human race. 



In Peru also the coca plant was looked upon with great veneration. It has 

 an invigorating and stimulating effect when eaten, and is used as a charm by 

 the Indians. When the mine of ore is too hard they chew some of this plant 

 and throw it upon the ore. Fishermen put some of it upon their hooks and 

 immediately have better success. It sustained an important part in all their 

 ceremonies, whether religious or warlike, either for the smoke or for the sacri- 

 fice itself. During divine worship the priests chewed coca leaves, and deemed it 

 useless to approach the gods without it. It was believed that any business 

 undertaken without the beuediction of coca leaves could not prosper, and to 

 the shrub itself worship was offered. More than three hundred years of 

 Christianity has failed to subdue this deep-rooted idolatry, and everywhere in 

 Peru there are many traces of the belief in the mysterious power of this plant. 

 The miners still throw masticated coca upon the hard veins of ore, and the 

 Indians put leaves of it into the mouths of the dead to secure to them a fa- 

 vorable reception into the other world. 



Nearly all the Indians had a great veneration for the plants possessing a 

 poisonous or medicinal character. The natives of Culhuacan hung a small 

 bag containing poisonous herbs about the neck of a child as a charm against 

 wild beasts and diseases. Many plants like snake-root, sassafras, liverwort, 

 lobelia, wintergreen, slippery elm and others possessing medicinal virtues 

 were considered by the North American Indians as gifts of the Great Spirit. 

 The Creeks had seven sacred plants, one of which was the blue flag. Other 

 plants were used by hunters to charm their guns, and to render their bodies 

 invulnerable in war. The Ojibways carried the buffalo-grass in their medicine- 

 bags to preserve their lives in battle. 



