132 PROCEEDINOS OF THE NATIONS' AL MUSEUM. vol. 42. 



the spirit world by attracting the attention of the intangible beings. 

 Mr. Hewitt says, however, that it is the tobacco rather than the 

 odor that is offered as a sacrifice to the deities; that is, the soul, 

 or the reality, of the tobacco is what reaches the gods. By means 

 of separate acts there is a twofold use of tobacco in a peace or 

 other council — the one to compose the minds of the councilors and 

 the other to invoke the good-will of the gods to whom it is offered in 

 sacrifices. 



Incense was probably at first the smoke of wood or of leaves, 

 then later selected, compounded of several materials, and made 

 sacred by rites.* It was finally sought all over the world, and 

 a commerce in ''frankincense and myrrh" was one of the chief 

 agencies in bringing a knowledge of the people of the Tropics to those 

 of northern zones. 



The incense from South America, according to Himiboldt,^ was 

 from the Idea gufanensis and Idea tacamaliaca. That used most 

 commonly in Mexico and Central America was the gum of the Protium 

 Jieptaphyllum, called copal by the Spanish. This tree is also a 

 Bursera, from which genus the most precious incense gums of the 

 world are derived. "The Mexicans and all the inhabitants of New 

 Spain made use (which they pursue yet somewhat to-day) in their 

 offerings of that incense of copal, a kind of wliite gum which they 

 call copalli, for incensing their gods. They had not recom-se to our 

 true incense, because it was not found in then' countiy. It was 

 copal that the satraps used in the temple and everyone in the 

 private houses, as we have said above." ^ Tozzer states that the 

 sap of the rubber tree was used by the Lacandones. The wood and 

 leaves and the resins of the pine trees in Mexico had important 

 cult uses. Pine needles are used as incense by the Hopi, as they are 

 by the Tibetans. 



In the descriptions of the home life of the Mexicans, transmitted by 

 the early chroniclers, it is stated that vases filled with smouldering 

 incense diffused their perfumes through the rooms,* and numerous 

 mentions of such usage give the impression that it was customary 

 to burn odorous substances as a matter of refinement and for per- 

 sonal pleasure, just as the use of tobacco became secularized. 



INCENSE MATERIALS. 



In the course of time, with the growth of ceremonies and the increas- 

 ing complexity of culture, incense became differentiated into kinds and 

 preparations appertaining to the various deities and celebrants. 

 There may have been many prescribed varieties of incense, and of 



> The Jews had at first 4 ingredients and later 13. Numbers, xvi. 

 » Cosmos, vol. 2, p. 204. 



> Sahagim, work cited, p. 183. 



. « Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 2, p. 573. 



