NARCOTIC PLANTS AND STIMULANTS SAFFOED. 417 



the mouth of the Mississippi River. He described the plant as having 

 leaves resembling those of an encina, or live oak. Its leaves, after 

 having been toasted over the fire in an earthenware vessel were boiled 

 for a long time, and the decoction poured into a vessel made of a 

 half -gourd and stirred so as to make it foam. It was drunk boiling 

 hot. While on the fire the vessel in which it was boiling was kept 

 carefully covered ; 



and if by chance it should be uncovered, and a woman should come by in the 

 meantime, they would drink none of it but fling it all away. Likewise while 

 it was cooling and being poured out to drink, no woman was allowed to stir or 

 make a motion, or they would pour it all out on the ground and spew up any 

 which they might have drunk, while she would be severely beaten. All this 

 time they would continue bawling out: "Who will drink?" whereupon the 

 women, on hearing this call, became motionless, and were they sitting or 

 standing, even on tip-toe, or with one leg raised and the other down, they 

 dared not change their position until the men had cooled the liquor and made 

 it ready to drink. The reason they gave for this is quite as foolish and unrea- 

 sonable as the custom itself ; for they said that if the women did not stand still 

 on hearing the call some evil would be imparted to the liquor which they 

 believed would make them die. 



Rene de Laudonniere, the leader of the ill-fated Huguenot expedi- 

 tion to Florida (1564), noticed the use of the " black drink " as prac- 

 ticed by the Indians living at the mouth of the St. Johns River, 

 Florida. Le Moine, his historian, wrote a narrative of the expedi- 

 tion, in which he mentions cassine leaves among the presents be- 

 stowed by the Indians upon the Frenchmen. Of the ceremonies 

 accompanying its preparation and dispensing he gives the following 

 account, accompanied by an illustration which is here reproduced 

 (pi. 14). Unlike the Indians observed by Cabeza de Vaca, the 

 Florida Indians did not exclude Avomen from the ceremonies con- 

 nected with its preparation, although neither they nor youths unini- 

 tiated into the dignity of manhood were permitted to partake of it. 



The chief and his nobles are accustomed during certain days of the year 

 to meet early every morning for this express purpose in a public place, in which 

 a long bench is constructed, having at the middle of it a projecting part laid 

 with nine round trunks of trees for the chief's seat. On this he sits by him- 

 self for distinction sake; and the rest come to salute him, one at a time, the 

 oldest first, by lifting both hands twice to the height of the head and saying, 

 " Ha, he, ya, ha, ha." To this the rest answer, " Ha, ha." Each as he com- 

 pletes his salutation takes his seat on the bench. If any question of im- 

 portance is to be discussed the chief calls upon his lauas (that is, his priests), 

 and upon the elders, one at a time, to deliver their opinions. They decide 

 upon nothing until they have held a number of councils over it, and they 

 deliberate very sagely before deciding. Meanwhile the chief orders the women 

 to boil some cassine, which is a drink prepared from the leaves from a cer- 

 tain root and which they afterwards pass through a strainer. 



The chief and his councilors being now seated in their places, one stands 

 before him, and spreading forth his hands wide open, asks a blessing upon 

 the chief and the others who are to drink. Then the cupbearer brings the 



