who represented the moon. These too, it seemed,
had to attend to certain religious duties which they perform for five
years, the child beginning at the innocent age of three. During her
term she lives with the old woman, whether she is related to her or
not. The old lady has charge of the large sacred bowl of the community,
an office vested only in a woman of undoubted chastity. This bowl is
called "Mother," and is prayed to. It consists of half of a large round
gourd, adorned inside and outside with strings of beads of various
colours. It is filled with wads of cotton, under which lie carved stone
figures of great antiquity. None but the chief religious authority is
allowed to lift up the cotton, the symbol of health and life. The bowl
rests also on cotton wads. On festive occasions the woman in charge
brings the bowl to the dancing-place and deposits it at the middle of
the altar. Parrot feathers are stood up along the inner edge, and each
person as he arrives places a flower on top of the cotton inside of
the bowl. This vessel is really the patron saint of the community. It
is like a mother of the tribe, and understands, so the Indians say,
no language but Cora. The Christian saints understand Cora, Spanish,
and French; but the Virgin Mary at Guadalupe, the native saint of
the Mexican Indians, understands all Indian languages.

Leaving the principales to prepare themselves further for the
dance, my friend and I early next morning went to see a sacred cave
where the Huichols go to worship. It was situated in the same hill,
outside of the country of that tribe. There were a great many caves
and cavities between the stones over which we made our way, jumping
from one to another. Near the lower edge of this accumulation of
stones I noticed, down in the dark, deep recesses, ceremonial arrows
which the pious pilgrims from beyond the eastern border of the Cora
land had left. Soon after passing this point We came to a cave,
the approach of which led downward and was rather narrow. With the
aid of a pole or a rope it can easily be entered. I found myself
at one of the ancient places of worship of the Huichol Indians,
the cave of their Goddess of the Western Clouds. It was not large,
but the many singular ceremonial objects, of all shapes and colours,
accumulated within it, made a strange impression upon me. There were
great numbers of ceremonial arrows, many with diminutive deer-snares
attached, to pray for luck in hunting;