310 



The Journal of Heredity 



their senses, and making them believe 

 a thousand absurdities.^" 



"This man, Juan Chichiton, brought 

 these mushrooms one night to a house 

 where there was a gathering for the 

 celebration of a saint's feast. The saint 

 stood on the altar and below the altar 

 were the mushrooms, with some i)ulque, 

 and fire. All night long the teponaztli 

 (wooden drum made from a hollowed 

 log) kept time to the singing, and after 

 the greater part of the night had passed, 

 the said Juan Chichiton, who was the 

 priest of that solemnity, administered 

 to all those congregated at the feast 

 mushrooms and pulque after the manner 

 of communion, winding up the celebra- 

 tion with an abundant quantity of 

 pulque ; so that the mushrooms on their 

 part and the pulque on its, took away 

 their reason, which was a pity. The 

 said Juan Chichiton fled soon afterward, 

 nor could I obtain information about the 

 others who took part, in order to chas- 

 tise them, with the exception of Leonor 

 Maria, whom I kept as a prisoner in my 

 house for having joined in the idolatry 

 which they performed with the mush- 

 rooms. 



"I asked the said licenciado Don 

 Pedro Ponce de Leon in what manner 

 these creatures perform their acts of 

 witchcraft in working harm to others; 

 and he told me that in making their 

 threats and menaces they strike them- 

 selves on the breast as at the Sanctus 

 with the tips of their fingers and then, 

 opening their hand, they make a gesture 

 as if hurling something in the direction 

 of the yjerson whom they are menacing 

 or wish to bewitch, saying: 'You shall 

 pay me for that, as you will see!' But 

 concerning other words and things 

 which they say and do by order of the 

 devil in these embustes, never or scarcely 

 ever could anything be ascertained; 

 though it stands to reason that they 



must have them as a pact with the 

 devil; and he, who is the author of all, 

 closes their mouths, so that there may 

 be no means of remedying the evil."^' 



SUMMARY 



After comparing the preceding ac- 

 counts of the use of narcotics by the 

 ancient Mexicans and by the Indians 

 of the present day, separated in time 

 by three centuries and in space by 

 thousands of miles, there can remain 

 no doubt that the mushroom-like peyote 

 used by our own Indians in the United 

 States, which we know to be identical 

 with the sacred hikuli, or hicori, of the 

 Sierra Madrc Indians, is the same drug 

 which was called teonanacatl , or "sacred 

 mushroom," by the Aztecs. According 

 to the earliest writers, it was endemic 

 in the land of the Chichimecas, the 

 early home of our Apaches, Comanches, 

 and Kiowas, which is also the source 

 of the modern supply. The ancient 

 Mexicans, like the Huicholes and Tara- 

 humaris of the present day, obtained 

 their supply of the drug through the 

 medium of messengers, consecrated for 

 the purpose, who observed certain 

 religious rites in collecting it, and who 

 were received with ceremonial honors 

 on their return. Although the Indians 

 on our northern rescrx'ations now receive 

 it through the medium of the parcel 

 post ; yet they attribute to it the same 

 divine properties as the ancient Mexicans 

 and like them combine its worship 

 with the religion they have received 

 from Christian missionaries. It is only 

 natural that those who are engaged in 

 the work of Christianizing and uplifting 

 our Indians should try, like the early 

 Spanish missionaries, to stamp out its 

 use. On the other hand many of the 

 Indians who use the narcotic declare 

 that they take it as a kind of sacrament 

 or communion, and that it helps them 



^"Lumholtz gives a somewhat similar account of the expeditions of the Huichol hikuH-seekcrs: 

 their prayers before starting forth on their journey, the'r priestly character, their worship of 

 the God of Fire, the imjjortance attached to their dreams while on the road, the ceremonial 

 shooting of arrows on their arrival in the hikuli country, their votive offerings, their prayers to 

 the five winds, and their petition to the hikuli not to make them crjfzy, the galhermg of the 

 sacred plants and of the discharged arrows covered with dew, and the return home with its 

 attending ceremonies. Lumholtz, Carl — Unknown Mexico 2: 126-1.^0. 1902. 



3' Jacinto de la Serna, " Manual dc los Ministros para el conocimiento de sus idolatn'as y extir- 

 pacion de ellas," in Documcnlos inc'ditos para la Historia dc Espana, vol. 104, p. 61. Madrid, 

 1802. 



