The Portland daily press., 1892-01-25


| s1ories and dreamy imaginings OF intoxl-
cation. In every part of the world man
inds some means to satisfy this universal
craving, and as the nervous European
resorts to exhilarating or maddenlng
| liquors. so the contemplative Monaghan
1as his opium, the fiery Arab his hashish
| and the nomad savage of the southwest
ais mescal. While opium and hashish
are used by their votaries simply as in
5oxicants the mescal eating ceremony is
solemn religious rite, seldom observed
oy white man, but which it has been
the writer's fortune to witness.
Mescal is the name given to several
| species Of cactus growing in the arid
regions of northern Mexico, all of which
possess Intoxicating or narcotic proper
lies. The particular variety eaten by
the southwestern tribes is the disk or
torus of a species of Mamillaria, look
ing, when dried, very much like the
dattened and shriyeled root Of the In
dian turnip, with tuft of white cot
| tony down in the center. 1t has Bit
| ter taste and from four to twelve are
necessary to produce the effect, which
is not followed by any injurious reaction
whatever. In fact almost every species
| Of cactus has food or medicinal value,
and the mescal is reverenced by these
tribes not only as a sacred narcotic but
as health bringing panacea for all bod
lily ills.
Having been studying the ghost dance
| Ill +hncn t11h had
become pretty well acquainted, when
one afternoon a young Kiowa came to
ell me>in a guarded manner that his
| people intended to eat mescal that night
alta camp about ten miles up the Ouach-
ita and would probably be willing to
have me present. Accordingly started
about dark, in company with Co.
manche and a Mexican who had been
captured when child and brought up
| by the Kiowas.
| At last we reached the camp in strip
of timber close by the river. The white
tepees were scattered about among the
trees. with the freight shining out so
| brightly through the thin canvas that
we could count the shadows of the in
mates as they sat around the fire within.
Going up to tepee from which proceeded
| familiar voices my Mexican lifted the
| door flap and. putting his head inside,
explained that his friend who had come
so far to visit them was outside and de-
| sired to witness the ceremony. After
some parleying he told us that it was all
right. and raising the flap we stepped
inside and were invited to sit down.
| In short time Kiowa came to an
nounce that the ceremony was about to
begin in the sacred lodge, and warned
| us that before entering we must remove
our hats, and, furthermore, that we
must not look at any of the participants
while they were actually eating the
| mescal. We found the Indians sitting
| fiat upon some dried weed stalks strewn
| in circle close around the sides. There
were about thirty Kiowas, Comanches,
Apaches, the Mexican and myself. The
| door faced the east, the ground was
clearly swept and in the center was a
frehole, with crescent shaped mound
of earth half encircling it on the farther
| side and sloping down to the floor at
each end. At the right of the doorway
sat the master of ceremonies, with pile
of frewood at his side. Opposite him,
| beyond the crescent mound, sat young
man whose duty it was to distribute the
mescal. All sat silently looking intently
| into the fire as we took our places in the
| circle.
| It was about 10 o'clock when the old
man placed fresh pile of wood on the
fire, carefully piling up the sticks in cob
house fashion, with the ends pointing
| toward the doorway, and tanning it
into blaze with beaded eagle feather
used only in this ceremony. The feather
was also brought into frequent requisi-
ton to fan away any particles OF ashes
| which CHANGED to fall upon the mound.
| Stretching out his hands toward the fire
! he then delivered an earnest address,
which my interpreter afterward ex-
| planned was an exhortation to the par
| Elephants to enter into the ceremony
with the proper religious spirit, and a
special word to me to the effect that
they had permitted me to be present
that might note everything, so that on
nv return could tell the government
and the white men that it was all good
and not bad, and that it was the re-
ligion of the Indians in which they be-
lieved, and which was as dear to them
as ours is to us.
The other now produced package OF
mescals and selecting the largest one
deposited it carefully upon the top of the
mound upon bed of fragrant herbs
arranged in the form of a cross. He
then distributed the mescals around the
circle, giving four to each man.
Each participant now took mescal IN
his hand and passing it with sweeping
motion toward the sacred mescal on the
mound and on through the blaze OF the
fire brought it up to his lips. This was
repeated four times and at the fourth
time he seized the mescal between his
teeth and chewed it with a loud crunch
ng noise.
After chewing it awhile he took it in
his hand and held it up, looking now
| like brown nutmeg, and then throwing