308 



The Journal of Heredity 



After I have taken twelve peyote I saw 

 a mountain with roads leadinj^ to the 

 top and people dressed in white going 

 up these roads. I got very dizzy and I 

 began to see all kinds of colors, and 

 arrows began to fly all around me. I 

 began to i^erspire very freely. I asked 

 to be taken out of doors. At that time 

 it was 20° below zero. I felt better 

 when I got out of doors. When I went 

 in again I began to hear voices just 

 like they came from all over the ceiling 

 and I looked around in the other room 

 and thought I heard women singing in 

 there, but the women were not allowed 

 to sing in the meetings usually, and so 

 this was kind of strange. . . . After 

 eating thirty-six of these peyote I got 

 just like drunk, only more so, and I felt 

 kind of good, but more good than when 

 I drink whiskey, and then after that 

 I began to see a big bunch of snakes 

 crawling all around in front of me, and 

 it was a feeling like as if I was cold 

 came over me. The treasurer of the 

 Sacred Peyote Society . . . was sit- 

 ting near me, and I asked him if he heard 

 young kittens. It sounded as if they 

 were right close to me; and then I sat 

 still for a long time and I saw a big 

 black cat coming toward me, and I felt 

 him just like a tiger walking up on my 

 legs toward me, and when I felt his 

 claws I jumped back and kind of made 

 a sound as if I was afraid, and he asked 

 me to tell him what was the matter, so 

 I told him after a while. I did not 

 care to tell at first; but I made up my 

 mind then, after what I saw, that I 

 would not take another one of these 

 pcyotes if they gave me a ten dollar 

 bill. ... In this Sacred Peyote Soci- 

 ety they have a form of baptism and 

 they ba]jtize with the tea made from 

 stewing the peyote, and they baptize 

 'in the name of the Father, and the 

 vSon, and the Holy Ghost,' the Holy 

 Ghost being the peyote. Then yt^u 

 drink some of the tea and they make 

 signs on your forehead with the tea 

 and then take an eagle's wing and fan 

 you with it. I heard an educated 

 Indian and he said in a meeting on 



Sunday morning, ' I\Iy friends, I am glad 

 I can be here and worship this medicine 

 with you; and we must organize a new 

 church and have it run like the Mormon 

 Church.' "28 



USE IN ANCIENT MEXICO 



From the j^receding description of a 

 meeting of the Sacred Peyote Society 

 held by the Winnebagos and Omahas in 

 1914 I turn back to the first account 

 we have of the Teonanacatl feasts of the 

 Aztecs, written by Padre Bernardino 

 Sahagun in the sixteenth century — 

 before Sir Francis Drake set out upon 

 his voyage round the world — before 

 tobacco whicli, under the name of picietl, 

 the Mexicans also worshipped, was 

 first brought to England. 



"The first thing eaten at the party 

 was certain black mushrooms which 

 they call nanacatl, which intoxicate 

 and cause visions to be seen, and even 

 provoke sensuousness. These they ate 

 before the break of day, and they also 

 drank cacao (chocolate) before dawn. 

 The mushrooms they ate with syrup 

 (of Maguey sap), and when they began 

 to feel the effect they began to dance; 

 some sang; others wept because they 

 were already intoxicated by the mush- 

 rooms; and some did not wish to sing, 

 but seated themselves in their rooms 

 and remained there as though medita- 

 ting. vSome had visions that the\- were 

 dying and shed tears; others imagined 

 that some wild beast was de\'ouring 

 them; others that they were capturing 

 j^risoners in warfare; others that they 

 were rich; others that they had many 

 slaves; others that they had committed 

 adultery and were to have their heads 

 broken as a penalty; others that they 

 had Ijcen guilty of a theft, for which 

 they were to be executed; and many 

 other visions were seen b\' t' em. After 

 the intoxication of the mu.shrooms had 

 l)as.sed off they conversed with one 

 another about the visions whicli they 

 had seen. "29 



The following description of a religious 

 meeting in July, 1626, at which sacred 

 mushrooms were admiiiislered in the 



'" Daiker, F. H., "Liquor and Peyote a Menace to the Indian," in Report of tin- 'riiirty-sccond 

 Annual Lake Mdhonk Conference, October, 1914, pp. 66, 67. 



*" Sahagun, Bernardino. Hist. Nueva Espafia (ed. Hustamcntf) 2:.?66. 182'). 



