104 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [eth. ann. 33 



Cactaceae 



Opuntia humikcsa R:if. rikkly Pear. (PI. -20, a.) 



/"rhrhi (Dakota). The fruits arc called u-chefa taspW. 

 I'ulafiittun ( Pawnee ) . 



An aimisinjjr summer pame played by small boys of the Dakota 

 Nation was the " cactus game." Boys gathered on the prairie where 

 the cactus abounded. One boy who was a swift runner was chosen 

 '■ to be it," as white children say in games. This boy would take 

 a cactus plant and im|)ale it on a stick. The stick served as a handle 

 iiv whicii he held u]) the plant for the other boys to shoot with their 

 bliws and arrows. When a boy hit the target the target holder ran 

 after him and would strike him with the spiny cactus; then he would 

 leturn to the goal and receive the shots of other boys. Thus the 

 game continued indefinitely at the pleasure of the players. 



The fruits were eaten fresh and raw after the bristles had been 

 removed, or they were stewed. They were also dried for winter use. 

 Sometimes from scarcity of food the Indians had to resort to the 

 stems, which they roasted after first removing the spines. The 

 mucilaginous juice of the stems was utilized as a sizing to fix the 

 colors painted on hides or on receptacles made from hides. It was 

 applied by rubbing a freshly peeled stem over the painted object. 

 ()u account of this mucilaginous proi)erty the peeled stems were 

 bound on wounds as a dressing. 



LoriioPHORA wiLLiAMsii (Leui.) Coulter. Peyote. 



Malxd" (Omaha-Ponca). The medicine. 



The religious cult associated with this plant has been introduced 

 among the Nebra.ska tribes from others to the southward. The plant 

 is indigenous to the Rio (irande region, where its cult arose. Thence 

 it spread from tribe to tribe, even to our northern national boundary. 

 This plant is often po[)ularly but erroneously called mescal. The 

 use of peyote and the religious observances connected with it were 

 introduced among the Omaha in the winter of 1906-07 by one of 

 the tribe who returned from a visit to the Oto in Oklahoma. He 

 had lieen much addicted to the use of alcohol and had heard among 

 the Oto that this religion would cure him. The cult had already 

 been introduced into the Winnebago tribe, whose reservation adjoins 

 that of the Omaha, so when he reached home he sought the advice 

 and help of the leader of the Peyote Society in that tribe. A society 

 was soon formed in the Omaha tribe, and although at first much 

 opi)osed it grew till it absorbed half the tribe. At the present time 

 its influence has somewhat weakeiied. 



The peyote plant and its cult ajipeal strongly to the Indian's sense 

 of the mysterious and occult. The religiotis exercises connected with 



