BADiN] THE PEYOTE CULT 419 



pagan ceremonies. In 1910 this delegation of leadership was clearly 

 a recent tendency, conditioned, on the one hand, by the size of the 

 reservation and the impossibihty of Rave's bemg everywhere, and, on 

 the other hand, by Rave's frequent absence on proselytizing missions. 

 In 1913 it had already become customary for a number of men to 

 hold the position of leader even when Rave was present. A further 

 complication was introduced when Jesse Clay began givmg the peyote 

 ceremonies in the Arajiaho manner, for he then stood ui the same 

 relation to his method of giving the ceremony as Rave stood to the 

 older form. As we shall see, there was, even m 1908, a separatist 

 movement led by Albert Hensley, which, if it had succeeded, would 

 have given Hensley the same leadership that Rave enjoyed before 

 him and that Clay subsequently acquired. 



Development of the Rii'ualistic Complex 



From the accounts given by various members of the Peyote cult it 

 is quite clear that Rave became mterested in the peyote on one of 

 his many trips to Oklahoma. According to the verbal accomit he 

 gave, which differs ui some respects from the account he subsequently 

 dictated on the particular visit which resulted in his first eating tlie 

 peyote, he was in a most distressed and unhappy condition of mind 

 owmg to the loss of his wife and children.' He went away from 

 Winnebago with the mtention of staymg away as long as possible from 

 the scene of his loss. 



Rave's account of his conversion gives a sufficiently dramatic pic- 

 ture of how he first ate the peyote and its immediate effects. In 

 response to numerous questions as to how he was first induced to eat 

 the peyote he always said that it was because he had been so fre- 

 quently asked. It is, however, far more likely that he was passing 

 through an emotional crisis at that particular time, and the requests 

 that he partake of it and the inducements held out to him, made it 

 easier for him to succumb then than on his jirevious visits. 



To judge from Rave's remarks, his first belief hi the peyote had 

 nothmg of the nature of a conversion to a new religion. It seems to 

 have been sunUar to the average Winnebago attitude toward a medici- 

 nal plant obtamed either as a gift or through purchase. There is 

 only one new note — ^stimulation by a narcotic. 



Rave states that the peyote cured him of a disease with which he 

 had been afflicted for a long time. After repeated requests his wife 

 also consents to bemg treated; so he paints her face and, takmg the 

 rattle, smgs peyote songs while she eats the peyote. His attitude 



5 In the account Rave himself gives he speaks of seeing his wife and children. As his verbal statement 

 was corroborated by other people, we are inclmed to believe that in his dictated account of his conversion 

 he had forgotten the actual state of affairs. It may, of course, be that in his ardent desire to show the mar- 

 velous effects of the peyote he permitted his memory to play him false. 



