Note 19 — XIII. A USE OF POISONOUS FUNGI QUITE PROBABLY EXISTED AMONG THE MEXICANS.

Tenian otra manera de embriaguez ... era con unos hongos ó setas pequeñas ... que comidos crudos y por ser amargos, beben tras ellos ó comen con ellos un poco de miel de abejas, y de alli á poco rato, veian mil visiones y en especial culebras.—(By the author of “Ritos Antiguos, Sacrificios é idolatrias de los Indios en Nueva España,” Kingsborough, vol. ix. p. 17.)

This author seems to have been the Franciscan Fray Toribio de Benvento, commonly called by his Aztec nickname of “Motolinia, the Beggar.” He is designated by Kingsborough “the Unknown Franciscan,” because, through motives of humility, he declined to subscribe his name to his valuable writings.