90 ETHNOBOTANV OF THE ZUXI INDIANS [eth. axs. 30 



Wlien the rain priest arrives at the home of the man whom he is 

 to treat, be finds him seated in darkness m an uaner room. He wears 

 a white cotton shirt and trousers. His hair is dressed m tlie usual 

 style. He has new blue woolen leggings, but he wears no shoes, nor 

 does he have the usual head kerchief. There must be no fire in the 

 room at this time. The rain priest sits by the man's side, and, 

 taking a bit of the root of D. meteloides from the palm of his left 

 hand, places it in the man's mouth, telling him to chew the medicine 

 that he may be possessed of the power to sleep soundly and to see the 

 one who has robbed libn. Then the man lies upon a pallet without 

 speaking a word, and the raui priest rethes to an adjoining room and 

 sits by the communicating door, which he closes. He listens atten- 

 tively. He must not smoke. "Should the rain priest smoke, the 

 man could not see the robber, as A'neglakya does not like smoking 

 at this time." 



After a time the man leaves his bed and walks about the room. 

 Wlien he speaks, the rain priest is eager to catch everj^ word. The 

 man walks and lies down alternately during the night. At daybreak 

 the rain priest goes into the man's room and takes his arm; he may 

 be either lying down or walkmg at this time. He is led into the 

 adjoining room, and the two take seats side by side, facing eastward. 

 The rain priest repeats to him what he has heard him say during the 

 night, and gives him the name of the person he mentioned. The 

 man declares that he has no recollection of what passed. After, 

 du'ecting hhn to go to the house of the one whose name he called 

 during the night, the rain priest makes a fire, heats water, and gives 

 the man about a quart to drink, which mduces vomiting. The 

 drmking of the water is repeated four times, each time resulting in 

 copious vomituag, and after the last draft the root of the Datura is 

 supposed to be entirely ejected. (Should the warm water not be 

 dnnak and the medicme thereby thoroughly ejected, the flowers of 

 Datura would appear over the body.) ^ The man remams in his 

 room while the rain priest goes to his own home and notifies his wife 

 and other women of his family that a bowl contammg yucca root 

 must be carried to the house of the person whom he has treated, 

 where yucca suds must be made and the man's head washed. During 

 the hair washing he kneels on a blanket, and the rain priest sits back 

 of him with a hand on each shoulder. His famUy inay be present at 

 this time, but they take no part in this performance. The ram 

 priest presents four ears of corn tied together, to be planted apart 

 from the other corn during the coming year, and the man gives a 

 few yards of calico, or sometimes a shirt and trousers, to the rain 



1 The Zunisay : " Wlien one touches a Datura blossom with moist hands, the impression will he imprinted 

 on the hand and wherever tlie hand touches tiie body. The blossoms will api>ear on Ihe hair if the hand 

 is placed on the head." 



