Note 52 — THE ETHNOLOGY OF PEYOTISM

Beals, Comparative Ethnology, 131. He adds, though, that “This [use] may also be aboriginal, and very probably dates back to the separation of the Huichol from their peyote-using relatives, the Guachachiles.” He cites Thomas and Swanton (Indian Languages, 22) but evidence is meagre. For the Cora we have Ortega (in Safford, An Aztec Narcotic, 295, and Narcotic Plants, 402): “Close to the musician was seated the leader of the singing whose business it was to mark the time. Each of these had his assistants to take his place when he should become fatigued.... They began forming as large a circle as could occupy the space of ground that had been swept off for this purpose. One after the other went dancing in a ring or marking time with their feet, keeping in the middle the musician and the choirmaster whom they invited, and singing in the same unmusical tone that he set them. They would dance all night from five o’clock in the evening to seven o’clock in the morning, without stopping or leaving the circle. When the dance was ended all stood who could hold themselves on their feet; for the majority from the peyote and the wine which they drank were unable to utilize their legs or hold themselves upright.”