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ghtens it. [272-1] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iii. p. 287; v. p. 652. [273-1] "The progress from deepest ignorance to highest enlightenment," remarks Herbert Spencer in his _Social Statics_, "is a progress from entire unconsciousness of law, to the conviction that law is universal and inevitable." [273-2] The Creeks had, according to Hawkins, not less than seven sacred plants; chief of them were the cassine yupon, called by botanists _Ilex vomitoria_, or _Ilex cassina_, of the natural order Aquifoliaceae; and the blue flag, _Iris versicolor_, natural order Iridaceae. The former is a powerful diuretic and mild emetic, and grows only near the sea. The latter is an active emeto-cathartic, and is abundant on swampy grounds throughout the Southern States. From it was formed the celebrated "black drink," with which they opened their councils, and which served them in place of spirits. [274-1] Martius, _Von dem Rechtzustande unter den Ureinwohnern Brasiliens_, p. 32. [275-1] Mr. Anderson, in the _Am. Hist. Mag._, vii. p. 79. [276-1] Such spectacles were nothing uncommon. They are frequently mentioned in the Jesuit Relations, and they were the chief obstacles to missionary labor. In the debauches and excesses that excited these temporary manias, in the recklessness of life and property they fostered, and in their disastrous effects on mind and body, are depicted more than in any other one trait the thorough depravity of the race and its tendency to ruin. In the quaint words of one of the Catholic fathers, "If the old proverb is true that every man has a grain of madness in his composition, it must be confessed that this is a people where each has at least half an ounce" (De Quen, _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1656, p. 27). For the instance in the text see _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1639, pp. 88-94. [277-1] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. p. 423. [277-2] J. M. Stanley, in the _Smithsonian Miscellaneous Contributions_, ii. p. 38. [278-1] D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Americain_, ii. p. 81. [279-1] See Balboa, _Hist. du Perou_, pp. 28-30. [281-1] D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Americain_, ii. p. 235. [281-2] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 652. [281-3] Dr. Mac Gowan, in the _Amer. Hist. Mag._, x. p. 139; Whipple, _Rep. on the Ind. Tribes_, p. 35. [283-1] _Hist. des Incas_, lib. iii. ch. 22. [283-2] _Travels in the Carolinas_, p. 504. [284-1] _Hist. du Perou_, p. 128; _Voiages aux Indes Occidentales_, ii. p. 9
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