418 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



hot drink in a capacious shell, first to the chief, and then, as the chief directs, 

 to the rest in their order in the same shell. They esteem this drink so highly 

 that no one is allowed to drink it in council unless he has proved himself a 

 brave warrior. Moreover, this drink has the quality of at once throwing 

 into a sweat whoever drinks it. On this account those who can not keep it 

 down, but whose stomachs reject it are not intrusted with any difficult com- 

 mission or any military responsibility, being considered unfit, for they often 

 have to go three or four days without food ; but one who can drink this liquor 

 can go for 24 hours afterward without eating or drinking. In military ex- 

 peditions also the only supplies which they carry consist of gourd bottles or 

 wooden vessels full of this drink. It strengthens and nourishes the body and 

 yet does not fly to the head as we have observed on occasion of these feasts 

 of theirs. 



Accounts of the Black Drink ceremony are given by many other 

 writers, including John Lawson, in his History of Carolina (1714) ; 

 James Adair, in his History of the American Indians (1775) ; Bossu, 

 in his account of the Allibama Indians; Bernard Romans, in his 

 Natural History of Florida (1775) ; and William Bartram, in his 

 Travels in Florida (1791). ^ 



By the Catawba Indians this plant was called yaupon; by the 

 Creeks it was known as assi-luputski, or " small leaves," which liter- 

 ally corresponds to the Guarani name (caa-mirim) of the finer form 

 of Ilex 'paraguariensw, a most interesting coincidence. 



The custom of drinking tea made of Ilex vomitoHa was adopted by 

 many of the white settlers of Florida, the Carolinas and Georgia, 

 but it has not persisted. Similar drinks are still used by certain 

 tribes of Oklahoma, in the ceremonies connected with their feast 

 commonly called the busk. According to the statements of various 

 authors Ilex leaves alone were used along the southeastern seacoast, 

 but in other localities it is quite probable that other plants were added 

 to or substituted for the infusion, especially the so-called Indian 

 tobacco, Lobelia inflata., and the button snake root, Eryngium aquat- 

 icum, both of which were held in high esteem by many tribes of North 

 American Indians. 



Ilex vomitoria (pi. 15) is an evergreen shrub or small tree. Its 

 small glossy leaves, likened by Cabeza de Vace to those of an encina 

 or live oak, and by Lawson to box leaves, are deep green above and 

 pale beneath, oblong, oval, or elliptical in form, and obtuse at the 

 apex, with the margins crenate-serrate. Those of the upper branches 

 are 1 to 2.5 cm. long, while those on the vegetative shoots are often 

 larger and oblong-lanceolate in shape. Though this species has been 

 confused with Ilex Cassine L. by several botanists the two species are 

 easily distinguished by their leaves. Those of Ilex Cassine are 

 usually much larger, more nearly resembling those of /. para- 

 guariensis, but with the margins entire or few toothed. The small 



1 See Hale, E. M., Bull. No. 14, Div. Bot., U. S. Dept Agr. 1891. 



