The people known as Diegue&ntilde;o, called by themselves Kawakipai or southern people, occupy the extreme southern part of California. The region which they inhabit coincides approximately with the boundaries of San Diego county.<br /><br />In culture, the Diegue&ntilde;o show a marked similarity to their neighbors, the Luise&ntilde;o on the north, and the Cahuilla on the northeast.<br /><br />Most of the rites which the Diegue&ntilde;o have in common with the Luise&ntilde;o belong to a definite cultus. This cultus is what has been described among the Luise&ntilde;o as the &quot;Chungichnish worship.&quot; Among the Diegue&ntilde;o it is known as awik or Western system. As described elsewhere in the present paper, and in another paper of this series by a different author, this cultus centers around an initiatory rite, which consists in drinking ceremonially a decoction of toloache or jimsonweed, Datura meteloides.<br />In studying the religious practices of the Diegue&ntilde;o a distinction is therefore always to be kept in mind between the rites which belong on the one hand to the cultus and on the other to the ordinary ceremonies, since the latter exhibit a totally different animus, and have no definite relation either to the cultus or to each other.