552 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



offerings to them on the altars of their oratories or on the canopies over them 

 or in other secret places in their houses, so that when a search is made for them 

 they can not easily be discovered ; or they may place them between the 

 idolillos of their ancestors, which they leave to guard them or, as it were, 

 chained to them. And all this they do with such respect and reverence that 

 when those who keep this seed in their possession are arrested or are asked 

 for the paraphernalia with which they perform the ceremony of this drink, such 

 as the tecomatillos, or little gourds and cups used to hold it, or for the seeds 

 themselves they protest most vehemently that they have no knowledge of the 

 matter whatever, not so much from fear of the judges before whom they are 

 arraigned as for the reverence they feel for the sacred objects, which they do 

 not wish to affront by a public demonstration of the ceremonial use of them, 

 the burning of the seeds, etc. 



CEREMONIAL USE OF DATURA METELOIDES BY THE ZUNI INDIANS. 



It is interesting to note that the veneration of the narcotic Olo- 

 liuhqui extended far to the northward and was common to the 

 Indians of New Mexico and certain tribes of California. Mrs. 

 Matilda Coxe Stevenson, in the Thirtieth Annual Report of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, gives an account of this plant, held 

 sacred by the Zufii Indians, among whom the following legend is 

 current : 



In the olden time a boy and a girl, brother and sister (the boy's name was 

 A'neglakya and the girl's name A'neglakyatsi'tsa), lived in the interior of the 

 earth, but they often came to the outer world and walked about a great deal, 

 observing closely everything they saw and heard and repeating all to their 

 mother. This constant talking did not please the Divine Ones (twin sons of 

 the Sun Father)- On meeting the boy and the girl the Divine Ones asked, 

 " How are you?" and the brother and sister answered, " We are happy." (Some- 

 times A'neglakya and A'neglakyatsi'tsa appeared on the earth as old people.) 

 They told the Divine Ones how they could make one sleep and see ghosts, and 

 how they could make one walk about a little and see one who had committed 

 theft. After this meeting the Divine Ones concluded that A'neglakya and 

 A'neglakyatsi'tsa knew too much and that they should be banished for all 

 time from this world ; so the Divine Ones caused the brother and sister to dis- 

 appear into the earth forever. Flowers sprang up at the spot where the two 

 descended — flowers exactly like those which they wore on each side of their 

 heads when visiting the earth. 20 The Divine Ones called the plant " a'neglakya," 

 after the boy's name. The original plant has many children scattered over the 

 earth ; some of the blossoms are tinged with yellow, some with blue, some with 

 red, some are all white — the colors belonging to the four cardinal points. 



The medicine of the Datura is sometimes called u'teaweko'hanna — 

 " flowers white." 



20 This flower is represented in Zufii and in other pueblos by interlacing colored yarns 

 around the desiccated fruit of Martynla louisiana Mill, which is attached to a leather band 

 passing around the head. On the forehead the band is covered by the bangs of the 

 maiden wearing the flower. This headdress is worn by women in the dance. Students 

 have described it as symbolizing the squash blossom, an error only too pleasing to the 

 Zufii, as the blossom of the Datura is most sacred to them. 



