e little distance
from the water, and when they travel avoid sleeping near it.

Whenever the Tarahumares make pinole while away from home, they
sacrifice the first part to the water-serpents, dropping it with
the little stick with which the pinole is stirred. They sprinkle
it first forward, then to the left, then to the right, and then
upward, three times in each direction. If they did not do this, the
water-serpents would try to catch them and chase them back to their
own land. Besides the sacrifice of the fish ball, they offer axes,
hats, blankets, girdles, pouches, etc., and especially knives and
strings of beads, to the master of the fish, who is considered to
be the oldest fish. This is in payment for what they are going to
catch, and the donations are either hung to a cross or a horizontal
bar specially erected in the middle of the river, and remain hanging
there until daybreak, when their respective owners take them back.

In the meantime eight or ten men have gathered the amole and soke. They
wrap the plants in their blankets and bring them direct to the river,
where they are to be used. The leaves are pounded with stones and
spread out for a while before sunset. As soon as it is dark the men
throw them into the water, and trample on them to make the juice come
out. Three or four men take turns, standing waist-deep in the water,
treading with all their might and howling. The effect of the poison
in the course of the night is said to reach down some 300 yards. It
stupefies the fish, and although many of them revive, a few are killed
and may be eaten, as the poison does not affect the meat.

The managers see to it that everybody does his duty and that no one
falls asleep during the night, while the women help by watching the
mats, that the otters may not eat the fish caught in them.

A curious detail is that one man on each side of the river is deputed
to heat stones and throw them into the river three or four at a time,
every half-hour, possibly to frighten off the serpent. During the night
not one fish is taken up, but at daybreak the managers go down the
river to investigate the effect of the poison, and upon their return
the fish are gathered in, the men often diving into deep water for
them. The work is done with great earnestness and almost in silence,
the women helping the men in catching the fish. While. the fishing is
going on they do not eat any of the fish, for fear of not getting more,
but during t