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The Journal of Heredity 



blazing in the center. The exercises 

 open with a prayer by the leader, who 

 then hands each man four mescals, 

 which he takes and eats in quick 

 succession, first plucking out the small 

 tuft of down from the center. In 

 eating, the dry mescal is first chewed 

 in the mouth, then rolled into a large 

 pellet between the hands, and swallowed, 

 the man rubbing his breast and the 

 back of his neck at the same time to 

 aid the descent. After this first rovmd 

 the leader takes the rattle, while his 

 assistant takes the drum, and together 

 they sing the first song four times, with 

 full voices, at the same time beating the 

 drum and shaking the rattle with all the 

 strength of their arms. The drimi and 

 rattle are then handed to the next 

 cou];lc, and so the song goes on round 

 and round the circle — with only a break 

 for the baptismal ceremony at midnight, 

 and another for the daylight ceremony 

 — until perhaps 9 o'clock the next 

 morning. Then the instruments are 

 passed out of the tipi, the sacred foods 

 are eaten, and the ceremony is at an 

 •end . . . The dinner, which is given 

 an hour or two after the ceremony, is 

 always as elaborate a feast as the host 

 can provide. The rest of the day is 

 spent in gossiping, smoking, and singing 

 the new songs, until it is time to return 

 home. "2^ 



AMONG THE TARAHUMARIS 



Lumholtz, in his account of the j^lant- 

 worshi]) of the Tarahumari Indians of 

 the southwestern Chihuahua, mentions 

 several kinds of cacti which they regard 

 with su])erstitious veneration; but there 

 is no evidence that any of these have 

 narcotic i:)roperties except the "hikori 

 huanami," which is the typical Lopho- 

 phora williamsii. A species of Ario- 

 •carpus (probably A.fissuratus) was sold 

 to him under the name of "hikori 

 sunami," and was declared by the 

 vendor to have certain magical powers; 

 but he did not see it used as an intoxi- 

 cant. Much that Lumholtz relates in 

 connection with the ceremonial use of 

 the narcotic hikori appears extravagant 

 and fanciful ; but it is undoubtedly true 



that the Tarahumari Indians, like their 

 more southerly neighbors the Coras and 

 Huicholes, have been led by the wonder- 

 ful visions induced by the plant to 

 attribute to it supernatural powers. 

 Even the Christians among them salute 

 it and make the sign of the cross when 

 approaching it, and it is often carried 

 by them as a charm or amulet. They 

 declare that Hikori sits next to God 

 and is called "tmclc," because it is 

 God's brother. 



It will be shown later that a similar 

 superstition is common among some of 

 the Indian tribes of the United States 

 who pay to the plant divine homage. 

 In some of their religious societies 

 there is a ceremony of baptism in 

 which the candidate is sprinkled with 

 an extract of the plant, and also a kind 

 of communion in which the plant is 

 eaten as an incarnation of the Deity, or 

 the flesh of God. 



Lumholtz gives an account of the 

 expeditions of the Tarahumaris in 

 quest of hikori, describing their conse- 

 cration with copal incense before start- 

 ing out, their ten-days' journey to the 

 land of the Hikori, the erection of a 

 cross on their arrival, the superstitious 

 observances attending the gathering 

 of the plant, which recall the stories of 

 the early European herbalists regarding 

 the mandrake and other magic plants, 

 and the ceremonies attending their 

 return. 



The Indians of the village go out 

 with music to welcome the travellers, 

 bearing their precious burden; and at 

 night there is a festival of tcswin- 

 drinking and dancing in honor of the 

 plant. The hikori is piled in a heap at 

 the foot of a cross, and is sprinkled with 

 teswin, which is grateful to it; and the 

 next day a sheep or even an ox or two 

 goats are sacrificed in its honor. The 

 wild heathen Indians living in caves or 

 under overhanging cliffs in the barran- 

 cas, when they hear of the return of the 

 expedition, come to buy supplies of the 

 hikori for their own use. "One i)lant," 

 says Lumholtz, "costs a sheep, and the 

 buyer holds a feast in honor of his 



^'Mooncy, James. "The Mescal Plant and Ceremony." Thcrap. Gazette 20: 7. 1896. 



