MARTIN RATTLER. 215

facturing the intoxicating drink, which was prepared
thus :—A quantity of maize was pounded in the hollow
trunk of a tree, and put into an earthen pot, where
it was boiled in a large quantity of water. Then the
women took the coarsely-ground and boiled flour out
of the water, chewed it im their mouths for a little,
and put it into the pot again! By this means the
decoction began to ferment and became intoxicating.
It was a very disgusting method; yet it is practised
by many Indian tribes in America, and, strange to
say, also by some of the South Sea Islanders, who, of
course, could not have learned it from these Indians.
When this beverage was ready, the chief, a tall,
broad-shouldered man, whose painted costume and
ornaments were most elaborate, stepped up to the pot
and began a strange series of incantations, which he
accompanied by rattling a small wooden instrument
in his hand; staring all the time at the earthen pot,
as if he half expected it to run away, and dancing
slowly round it, as if to prevent such a catastrophe
from taking place. The oftener the song was repeated
the more solemn and earnest became the expression of
his face and the tones of his voice. The rest of the
Indians, who were assembled to the number of several
hundreds, stood motionless round the pot, staring at

him intently without speaking, and only now and