that play somewhat lesser roles. With few exceptions, 
these are local plants of the Plains. Among the Ameri- 
can Indians, their use is remarkably constant. The fol- 
lowing account with regard to the plants used may be 
considered applicable to any American peyote-ceremony 
and is based on my personal investigation among the 
Kickapoo, Kiowa, Quapaw, Shawnee and Wichita, and 
is supplemented by the observations of R. W. LaBarre 
among the Caddo, Comanche, Delaware, Osage, Oto, 
Pawnee, Ponca, and Southern Cheyenne. 
Peyote (seni),’ sage (tigyi), cedar (k’okiiidli), hay, 
oak leaves, corn shucks, tobacco (tiibii), various woods, 
the gourd, mescal beans (k’awn-k’odl) and fruits are al- 
rays used; the practice of painting the face, still com- 
mon with some of the older leaders, calls for any of a 
dozen berries or roots as well as for certain “‘earths’” of 
which the use is subject to regional and tribal variation. 
The ceremony begins with a prayer, for which each 
member rolls and smokes a cigarette. The tobacco is al- 
ways Bull Durham; it is kept in a cotton bag which is 
passed around the circle of worshippers. The cigarettes 
are never rolled in paper; the use of corn shucks (Zea 
Mays L.) or the leaf of the black-jack oak (Quercus nigra 
L.) for this purpose is more in keeping with the old tradi- 
tion which the peyote-cult strives to preserve. The leader 
may, according to a Kiowa statement, hand a consump- 
tive patient a few dried sumac (mokola) leaves (thus 
glabra 1.) for mixing with the tobacco. This is believed 
to make the tobacco-smoke more potent as a purifying 
agent; neither the sumac nor the tobacco, however, are 
considered to be medicinal when used in the peyote cere- 
mony. This blending of sumac and tobacco is so well liked 
Inasmuch as the Kiowa tribe has been one of the most, if not the 
most, active in the diffusion of the cult, all native names are given in 
Kiowa. 
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