Safford: An Aztec Narcotic 



295 



say that it protects them from all 

 danger, "i*^ 



The plant itself was dcseribed by 

 Hernandez as follows, under the heading 

 De Peyotl Zacatecensi, seu radice moUi 

 et lanuginosa. 



"The root is of nearly medium size, 

 sending forth no branches nor leaves 

 above ground, but with a certain woolli- 

 ness adhering to it on account of which 

 it could not be aptly figured by me. 

 Both men and women are said to be 

 harmed by it. It appears to be of a 

 sweetish taste and moderately hot. 

 Ground up and applied to painful 

 joints it is said to give relief. Wonder- 

 ful properties are attributed to this 

 root (if any faith can be given to what 

 is commonly said among them on this 

 point). It causes those devouring it 

 to be able to foresee and to predict 

 things; such, for instance, as whether 

 on the following day the enemy will 

 make an attack upon them ; or whether 

 the weather will continue favorable; 

 or to discern who has stolen from them 

 some utensil or anything else ; and other 

 things of like nature which the Chichi- 

 mecas really believe they have found 

 out. On which account this root 

 scarcely issues forth_ but conceals itself 

 in the ground, as if it did not wish to 

 harm those who discover it and eat it."^^ 



From the above description, which 

 applies perfectly to the plant from 

 Zacatecas shown in fig, 2, it follows 

 that the Peyotl zacatecensis of Hernandez 

 is identical with Lophophora williamsii. 

 Specimens of the drug collected at 

 Zacatecas by the late Dr. Edward Palmer 

 are shown in fig. 3. They bear little 

 resemblance to the mushroom-like but- 

 tons shown in fig. 1, and it is not 

 surprising that they should have been 

 supposed to be distinct from the 

 teonanacatl by the early vSpanish writers. 



RAIZ DIABOLICA, OR DEVIl's ROOT 



By this name it was designated by 

 Padre Jose Ortega, who tells of its 

 use by the Cora Indians in his 

 Historia del Nayarit, published anony- 



10 Sahagun (1499-1590). Hist, general de las cosas de Nueva Espana (ed. Bustamente) 3:241. 

 1830. 



"Hernandez (1514-1578). De Hist. Plant. Nov. Hisp. 3:70. 1790. 



12 Ortega, Padre Jose (d. 1700j. Hist, del Nayarit, pp. 22-23 (new ed.) 1887. 



13 Garcia, Fr. Bartholome. Manual para administrar los Santos Sacramentos etc. p. 15. 1760. 



mously at Barcelona in 1754, and 

 republished under his own name in 

 1887. In describing their nocturnal 

 dances he writes as follows : 



"Close to the musician was seated 

 the leader of the singing whose business 

 it was to mark the time. Each of these 

 had his assistants to take his place when 

 he should become fatigued. Nearby 

 was placed a tray filled with peyote 

 which is a diabolical root {raiz diaholica) 

 that is ground up and drunk by them 

 so that they may not become weakened 

 by the exhausting effects of so long a 

 function, which they began by forming 

 as large a circle of men and women as 

 could occupy the space of ground that 

 had been swept off for this purpose. 

 One after the other went dancing in a 

 ring or marking time with their feet, 

 keeping in the middle the musician and 

 the choir-master whom they invited, 

 and singing in the same unmusical tune 

 {el mismo descompasado tono) that he 

 set them. They would dance all night, 

 from 5 o'clock in the evening to 7 o'clock 

 in the morning, without stopping nor 

 leaving the circle. When the dance 

 was ended all stood who could hold 

 themselves on their feet ; for the majority 

 from the peyote and the wine which 

 they drank were unable to utilize their 

 legs to hold themselves upright. "^- 



The early missionaries were opposed 

 to the drug not so much on account of 

 its physiological effects upon the Indians 

 but because of its connection with 

 certain superstitious rites connected with 

 their primitive religion. Eating the 

 teonanacatl, or peyotl, was declared by 

 the padres to be almost as grave a sin 

 as eating human flesh. In a little 

 religious manual published by Fray 

 Bartholome Garcia in 1760, for the 

 use of the missionaries to the Indians 

 of San Antonio, Texas, the following 

 questions, to be used in the confessional, 

 are printed: 



' ' Has comido carne de gente ?" (Hast 

 thou eaten flesh of man?) 



"Has comido el peyote?" (Hast 

 eaten the peyote ?)^^ 



