s a headache. Although an Indian feels as if drunk after
eating a quantity of hikuli, and the trees dance before his eyes,
he maintains the balance of his body even better than under normal
conditions, and he will walk along the edge of precipices without
becoming dizzy. At their nocturnal feasts, when drinking heavily
of both tesvino and hikuli, many persons may be seen to weep and
laugh alternately. Another marked effect of the plant is to take
away temporarily all sexual desire. This fact, no doubt, is the
reason why the Indians, by a curious aboriginal mode of reasoning,
impose abstinence from sexual intercourse as a necessary part of the
hikuli cult.

The effect of the plant is so much enjoyed by the Tarahumares that
they attribute to it power to give health and long life and to purify
body and soul. The little cacti, either fresh or dried, are ground
on the metate, while being mixed with water; and this liquor is the
usual form in which hikuli is consumed.

Hikuli is also applied externally for snake-bites, burns, wounds, and
rheumatism; for these purposes it is chewed, or merely moistened in
the mouth, and applied to the afflicted part. Not only does it cure
disease, causing it to run off, but it also so strengthens the body
that it can resist illness, and is therefore much used in warding off
sickness. Though not given to the dead, since the dead are no longer
in need of remedies, hikuli is always partaken of at the feasts of
the dead.

Moreover, hikuli is a powerful protector of its people under all
circumstances, and it gives luck. If a man carries some hikuli in
his belt, the bear cannot bite him and the deer cannot run away, but
become quite tame and can easily be killed. Should he meet Apaches,
hikuli would prevent them from firing off their guns at him. It
gives luck in foot-races and all kinds of games, in climbing trees,
etc. Hikuli is the great safeguard against witchcraft. It sees even
better than the shamans, and it watches that nothing bad is put into
the food. The Christian Tarahumares, when they partake of hikuli,
think that the devil runs out of their stomachs. Hikuli purifies any
man who is willing to sacrifice a sheep and to make native beer. There
is, however, no remedy for a murderer; not even hikuli can cure him.

The Christian Tarahumares make the sign of the cross when coming into
the presence of the plant, and I was told to lift my hat to it. It
is always saluted in the same way as a