266  Drink  Plants  of  the  Indians.  {AmMa^6arm- 
Yumas  get  drunk  once  a  year,  the  revelry  continuing  for  a  week  or 
two  at  a  time,  one-third  of  the  party  only  indulging  at  a  time,  the 
remainder  being  required  to  take  care  of  their  stimulated  comrades 
and  protect  them  from  injuring  each  other  or  being  injured  by  other 
tribes." 
The  fruit  of  Opuntia  Tuna,  Mill.,  and  O.  Ficus-Indica,  Haw.,  are 
used  by  Mexican  Indians  to  make  an  intoxicating  drink,  called 
colonche,  having  a  pink  color  and  the  taste  of  hard  cider. 
The  fleshy  fruit  of  several  species  of  yucca  are  converted  by  the 
Chihuahua  Indians  into  a  fermented  beverage,  which  is  sometimes 
distilled  by  the  Mexicans  into  indifferent  aguardiente.  The  fruit  of  the 
Mezquite  (Prosopis  juliflora,  DeC.)  contains  more  than  half  its  weight 
of  nutritive  principles,  especially  sugar  in  the  proportion  of  25  to 
30  per  cent.  When  cooked,  pounded,  mixed  in  water  and  strained, 
it  yields  a  very  nutritive  and  pleasant  beverage  called  "atole;"  this 
readily  undergoes  fermentation,  whereby  a  kind  of  beer  is  produced, 
formerly  much  used  by  the  Colorado  and  Gila  River  Indians. 
Plants  yielding  stimulating,  exhilarating  or  intoxicating  principles 
not  intoxicating :  the  Anhalonium  Engelmannii,  Lem.,  a  napiform, 
tuberculous  cactus,  2  to  3  inches  long,  and  hardly  rising  above  ground, 
is  called  Peyote.  Mexicans  cut  it  into  slices,  which  are  kept  dry  for 
medicinal  purposes,  being  commonly  used  in  fevers.  It  is  princi- 
pally as  an  intoxicant,  however,  that  it  has  become  noted  along  the 
Mexican  border,  being  eaten  raw  or  added  to  native  tizwin  to  make 
it  stronger.  It  is  said  that  the  Indians  or  Mexicans  partaking  of 
this  adulterated  tizwin  become  temporarily  crazy  and  uncontrollable. 
Closely  allied  to  this  is  the  Lophophora  Williamsii,  var.  Lewinii, 
Coult.  The  "  tops,"  under  the  name  of  Mescal  Buttons,  have  been 
the  subject  of  investigations.  Lewin  and  HefTter  found  in  them 
several  alkaloids  and  at  least  two  resinous  substances,  the  latter 
being  the  active  principles.  An  alcoholic  extract,  according  to 
Lewin,  produces  in  animals  symptoms  almost  identical  with  those 
caused  by  strychnine,  being,  in  small  doses,  a  cardiac  and  respiratory 
stimulant.  Drs.  Prentiss  and  Morgan,  of  Washington,  found  that 
the  chief  physiological  effect  was  the  production  of  beautiful  colored 
visions  in  an  ever-changing  and  brilliant  picture,  being  attended 
with  wonder  and  admiration,  but  no  merriment,  delirium  or  intoxi- 
cation. The  Kiowa  Indians  were  formerly  much  addicted  to  the 
use  of  this  plant  in  their  religious  ceremonies.    Each  Indian  chews 
