Indians of North America -- Religion; Indians of North America -- Rites and ceremonies; Peyotism
[14] The ilex “black drink” is Catawba (_Handbook of the American
Indians_, 1:150a, 2:1000-1001); Alibamu (Forster, _Bossu_, 254, 261,
294, 354-55); Creek (Swanton, _Social Organization and Social Usages_,
307, 445; Adair, in Swanton, _Social and Religious Beliefs_, 265; Speck,
_The Creek Indians_, 110, 117-18, 134; Bartram, _Travels_, 449, 507),
both Taskigi and Mikasuki; Cherokee (Bartram, _Travels_, 357); Chickasaw
(Swanton, _Social and Religious Beliefs_, 240); Koasati (Paz, _Koasati
Field Notes_); Yuchi (Speck, _Ethnology of the Yuchi_, 122-24, 135);
Natchez (Charlevoix, _Histoire de l’Isle_, 166; du Pratz, _Histoire_,
2:46, 3:13); Atakapa (Forster, _Bossu_, 1:354-55), Chitamacha (Gatschet,
in Swadesh, _Chitamacha Texts_) and Karankawa (Oliver, in Gatschet, _The
Karankawa Indians_, 18-19). Also in Florida (de Laudoniére, in Lewin,
_Phantastica_, 279; Safford, _Narcotic Plants_, 417; Romans, _A Concise
Natural History_, 94), and also possibly in Virginia (Beverly, _History
of Virginia_, 175-80; Ribault [1666], Dominique de Gourages [1567],
McCullough, Le Moyne—all in Havard, _Drink Plants_, 41-42; Lawson,
_History of Carolina_, 380-82 [1860 ed.]; Adair, _The History of the
American Indian_, 108). A similar emetic rite is also found among the
“Cutalchich” of Texas (Cabeza de Vaca, in Safford, _Narcotic Plants_,
416-17), the Tainan or Greater Antilles Arawak (Gower, _The Northern and
Southern Affiliations_, 39-40), the Lesser Antilles Carib and Guiana
(Dixon [R. B.], _Some Aspects_, 1-12), the Amazon Basin (Wissler, _The
American Indian_, 213), Jivaro and Canelo of Ecuado (Karsten, in Lewin,
_Phantastica_, 279-81; Safford, _Narcotic Plants_, 413, 416); Guarani of
Northern Bolivia (Safford, op. cit., 413; Spruce, _Notes of a Botanist_,
2:419-20). See also Thurnwald, _Economics_, 65; Harrington, _Cuba
Before Columbus_, 295, 388-89; Spier, _Yuman Tribes_, 181; _Handbook
of the American Indians_, 2:32a, 145-46; Sapir, _Kaibab-Paiute_.
An interestingly parallel distribution (which may have historical
relevance) is that of fish and arrow poisons. Fish poisons are reported
for northeastern South America, the Orinoco valley, the upper Amazon,
the Antillean Carib; the Tarahumari, Acaxee, Opata and in California;
the Catawba, Taskigi Creek, Cherokee, Koasati, Yuchi and Iroquois (cf.
the blow-gun of the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquois, Yuchi, central
Carib, Florida Key-dwellers, natives of Hispaniola and of northeastern
South America). Arrow poisons are found in Sonora, Central America,
the Guianas, the Antilles (Carib), Florida Arawak (?) and, in historic
times, the Tarahumari, as well as in South America. The Opata, curiously,
used yerba de fleche to poison deer at water-holes. Beals (_Comparative
Ethnology_, 115, 193) also lists poison arrows for the Southern Diegueño,
Chumash, Cahuilla, Yavapai, Havasupai, Navaho, Western Apache, Lipan,
Natchez (?), Seri, Mixtec and in Sinaloa and Culiacan. Spier adds the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account