Chichimecs." It was used as an intoxicant.

"Those who eat or drink of this _peyotl_ see visions, which are
sometimes frightful and sometimes ludicrous. The intoxication it
causes lasts several days. The Chichimecs believed that it gave
them courage in time of danger and diminished the pangs of hunger
and thirst."[7-[+]]

Its use was continued until a late date, and very probably has not yet
died out. Its composition and method of preparation are given in a list
of beverages prohibited by the Spanish authorities in the year 1784, as
follows:

"_Peyote_: Made from a species of vinagrilla, about the size of a
billiard ball, which grows in dry and sterile soil. The natives
chew it, and throw it into a wooden mortar, where it is left to
ferment, some leaves of tobacco being added to give it pungency.
They consume it in this form, sometimes with slices of _peyote_
itself, in their most solemn festivities, although it dulls the
intellect and induces gloomy and hurtful visions (sombras muy
funestas)."[7-[++]]

The _peyotl_ was not the only herb prized as a means of casting the soul
into the condition of hypostatic union with divinity. We have abundant
evidence that long after the conquest the seeds of the plant called in
Nahuatl the _ololiuhqui_ were in high esteem for this purpose. In the
Confessionary of Father Bartholome de Alva the priest is supposed to
inquire and learn as follows:

"_Question._ Hast thou loved God above all things? Hast thou loved
any created thing, adoring it, looking upon it as God, and
worshiping it?

"_Answer._ I have loved God with all my heart; but sometimes I have
believed in dreams, and also I have believed in the sacred herbs,
the _peyotl_, and the _ololiuhqui_; and in other such things
(_onicneltocac in temictli, in xiuhtzintli, in peyotl, in
ololiuhqui, yhuan in occequitlamantli_)."[8-*]

The seeds of the _ololiuhqui_ appear to have been employed externally.
They were the efficient element in the mysterious unguent known as "the
divine remedy" (_teopatli_), about which we find some information in the
works of Father Augustin de Vetancurt, who lived in Mexico in the middle
of the seventeenth century. He writes:

"The pagan priests made use of an ointment composed of insects,
such as spiders, scorpions, centipedes and the like, which the
neophytes in the temples prepa