and from Sara-polio, riding on beautiful green doves, to feast with
the Tarahumares at the end of the dance, when the people sacrifice
food, and eat and drink. The greatest Hikuli eats with the shaman,
who alone is able to see him and his companions. If Hikuli should
not come to the feasts, there would always be on the Tarahumares the
breath or stain of sorcery.

Having bestowed his blessings, Hikuli forms himself into a ball, and
flies home to his country, accompanied by the owl, who also flies to
its shelter at that hour.

The dust produced by the rasping of the shaman in the course of
the night is carefully gathered up and kept in a buckskin bag as a
powerful remedy for future use.

After the feast everybody has to wash his face and hands, a duty
esteemed most important.

Besides hikuli waname ordinarily used, the Tarahumares know and
worship the following varieties:

1. Mulato (_Mammilaria micromeris_).--This is believed to make the
eyes large and clear to see sorcerers, to prolong life and to give
speed to the runners.

2. Rosapara.--This is only a more advanced vegetative stage of the
preceding species--though it looks quite different, being white and
spiny. This, too, must only be touched with very clean hands, in the
moral sense, it would seem, as much as in the physical, for only people
who are well baptised are allowed to handle it. It is a good Christian
and keeps a sharp eye on the people around it; and when it sees anyone
doing some wrong, it gets very angry, and either drives the offender
mad or throws him down precipices. It is therefore very effective in
frightening off bad people, especially robbers and Apaches.

3. Sunami (_Mammilaria fissurata_).--It is rare, but it is believed
to be even more powerful than waname and is used in the same
way as the latter; the drink produced from it is also strongly
intoxicating. Robbers are powerless to steal anything where Sunami
calls soldiers to its aid.

4. Hikuli walula saeliami.--This is the greatest of all, and the
name means "hikuli great authority." It is extremely rare among
the Tarahumares, and I have not seen any specimen of it, but it was
described to me as growing in clusters of from eight to twelve inches
in diameter, resembling waname with many young ones around it. All
the other hikuli are his servants. The reason why so few of these
plants are brought to the Tarahumare country is that he is very
greedy, requiring oxen for food, not bein