the term ololiuhqui del moreno, which Dr. Aguirre Bel- 
tran thinks was his way of saying ‘black ololiuhqui’. But 
since this Negro was obviously a stranger both to Na- 
huatl and to Spanish, little can be deduced from his 
terminology.” 
According to Don ‘Tomas, in San Bartolo Yautepac, 
a village of the Sierra Costera, only the black seed is used, 
but in many villages both kinds are known. The black 
is widely regarded as the more potent. In some places 
the black seed is called macho, ‘male’, and the men take 
it; the Rivea seed, known as hembra, ‘female’, is for the 
women. The dose is often seven or a multiple thereof— 
seven, or 14, or 21; or the seeds are measured in the cup 
of the hand; or, as one informant in the Sierra Mazateca 
told me, one takes a beer-cap full of Rzvea seed. 
In recent years a number of experimenters have taken 
the Rivea seeds with no effects, and this has led one of 
them to suggest that the reputation of ololiuhqui is due 
wholly to auto-suggestion.” These negative results may 
be explained by inadequate preparation. The Indians 
grind the seeds on the metate (grinding stone) until they 
are reduced to flour. Then the flour is soaked in cold 
water, and after a short time the liquor is passed through 
a cloth strainer and drunk. If taken whole, the seeds give 
no result, or even if they are cracked. They must be 
ground to flour and then the flour soaked briefly in water. 
Perhaps those who took the seeds without results did not 
grind them, or did not grind them fine enough, and did 
not soak the resulting flour. The chemistry of the seeds 
seems not to vary from region to region, and seeds grown 
in the Antilles and in Europe are as potent as those 
grown in Oaxaca. I have taken the black seeds twice in 
my home in New York, and their potency is undeniable. 
Don Tomas MacDougall and his colleague Francisco 
Ortega of Tehuantepec, both old and excellent friends 
[ 178 | 
