dicines are cold infusions of different
medicinal plants. The shaman standing directly in front of the
middle cross, takes up the jar containing the chief medicine, palo
hediondo; his assistant to the north takes up the bowl containing
a root called ohnoa; and the one on the south maguey water. After
having duly sacrificed to the gods, the great shaman himself takes
three spoonfuls of the medicine, and gives the same quantity to his
assistant to the north, who in turn first takes his remedy and then
gives some to the shaman. In the same way the latter exchanges with
his assistant to the south, and then the two assistants exchange
remedies. The bowls are then handed by the shaman to the owner of the
house, who in turn passes them on to the first man in the row, and
from him they go from hand to hand to the last man in the line, each
man taking three spoonfuls out of each bowl, while each of the women
gets four. The man who drinks last gives the bowls back to the owner
of the house, who in turn hands them to the shaman, who puts them back
on the blanket underneath the cross. Meanwhile the incense-burners
have been filled with hot coals, on which the shaman now throws
some copal, the smoke of which he waves over all the people. He, as
well as the other men, open their blankets a little to get the smoke
on their bodies. This finishes the curing act, and now a speech is
made. At private festivals the shaman is the orator of the occasion,
but at communal or tribal festivals the gobernador is expected to,
and generally does, perform this part of the proceedings. Rhetoric is
one of the accomplishments of the Tarahumares, though it is not to be
judged in accordance with the white man's standard. Here is a speech
made by the gobernador at the end of one of the feasts I witnessed:

Listen to me! Stand up in a row and listen to what I have to tell
you. All of you stand up in line, men, women, and children, because
I am going to give you my words, to present to you the words which
the One Above bids me to tell you. Now all is over! We have done
something good to Tara Dios, and he has given you life to dance; and
now he is giving you life for another year. All of you will have to
make feasts like this. You have no experience; therefore listen to
me and hear what I have to tell you. If you do not believe what I am
telling you, the Devil will carry you off. You all are inexperienced,
all of you who are standing here in a row around. Be