Note 8 — THE ETHNOLOGY OF PEYOTISM

Bennett and Zingg (The Tarahumara, 135) write that “in a culture where animals are thought to talk and cattle are supposed to warn their masters of impending drought or plague, it is not surprising that plants also are imbued with personality and harmful or helpful attributes. The small ball of cacti is especially revered by the Tarahumara.” Some Mammillaria spp. have a striking resemblance to a head of hair; one figured in Higgins with flowing white “hair” is called “Old Man Cactus”; again, natives have an intense fear of even touching these plants—an attitude recalling the Pima belief that even one drop of Apache blood falling on a person would make him ill (Hrdlička, Physiological and Medical Observations, 243). In this connection it is interesting to note that Spier has collected evidence bearing on the magical use of enemies’ scalps. The magical malevolence of the enemy or his scalp is cited (Warfare) for the Maricopa, Yuman and Piman groups, Navaho, Jicarilla, and Pueblo. The Yumans and Pimans required stringent purification from contact with the enemy or his scalp; the Pimans, again, along with the Navaho and Pueblos turned this power to account in curing and rain-bringing. Spier states that for the Pima-Papago the scalp is turned into an ally against the enemy, and made a specific prophylactic against such enemy-engendered dangers as paralysis, swooning at the sight of blood or a violent death; the Maricopa, indeed, convert a scalp into one of themselves, much as a captive is ceremonially converted and purified. Further still, according to Spier, the Maricopa and Yumans received prophetic foreknowledge of the enemy from these scalps, which therefore they carried with them to war. Still more strikingly, scalps are thought to laugh and cry and babble incessantly, much as the noisily talkative peyote plant is supposed to do.