1864.] 15 [Brinton. 



4. This interesting passage lets in considerable light on the 

 claims and practices of the nagualists. Not the least important 

 item is that of their use of the intoxicant, ^:»e?/o<Z, a decoction of 

 which it appears played a prominent part in their ceremonies. 

 This is the native Nahuatl name of a certain plant, having a 

 white, tubei'ous root, which is the part emplo3^ed. It is men- 

 tioned as " pellote " or " pe^^ote " in the Farmacopea Mexicana 

 as a popular remedy, but its botanical name is not added. Ac- 

 cording to Paso y Troncoso, it is one of the Compositfe, a 

 species of the genus Cacalia* It is referred to in several pas- 

 sages b}^ Father Sahagun, who says that it grows in southern 

 Mexico, and that the Aztecs derived their knowledge of it from 

 the older " Chichimecs." It was used as an intoxicant. 



"Those who eat or drink of this peyoil see visions, which are some- 

 times frightful and sometimes ludicrous' The intoxication it causes lasts 

 several days. The Chicliimecs believed that it gave them courage in time 

 of danger and diminished the pangs of hunger and thirst. "f 



Its use was continued until a late date, and very probably has 

 not yet died out. Its composition and method of preparation 

 are given in a list of beverages prohibited by the Spanish author- 

 ities in the 3'ear 1784, as follows : 



" Pei/ote : Made from a species of vinagrilla, about the size of a liilliard 

 ball, which grows in dry and sterile soil. The natives chew it, and throw 

 it into a wooden moriar, where it is left to ferment, some leaves of tobacco 

 being added to give it pungencJ^ They consume it in this form, some- 

 limes with slices of peyote itself, in their most solemn festivities, although 

 it dulls the intellect and induces gloomy and hurtful visions (sombras 

 niuy funes'.as)."J 



The peyoil was not the only herb prized as a means of casting 

 the soul into the condition of hypostatic iinion with divinity. 

 We have abundant evidence that long after the conquest the 

 seeds of the plant called in Nahuatl the ololivhqui w'ere in high 



* Paso y Troncoso, in Analcs del Maseo Naciondl dc Mfxico, Tom. iii, p. ISO. 



t Siihagun, Historia de Nucva J^spaFia, Lit), x, cap. 29, and Lib. xi, cap. 7. Hernandez has 

 the following on the mysterious properties of this pliint : " Ulud ferunt de hac radice 

 mirabile (si modo fides sit vulgatissimre inter eos rei habendse), devorantes illam qnodli- 

 bet prsesagire prnedicereque ; velut an sequent! die hostes sint impetinii in eos facturi? 

 Anne illos felicia maneant tempora? Quis supellectilem, aut nliud quidpiam furio sub- 

 ripruerit? Et ad hunc moduni alia, quibus Cliichimet'Pe hujusmodi medieainine cogno- 

 scendis." Franciscus Heruandus, Historia Flantarum iYot'ie Hispaniie, Tom. iii, p. 71 

 (Ed., Madrid, 171)0). 



J Diccionario Universal, Appeudice, Tom. i, p. 360 (Mexico, 185G). 



