safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 547 



as petioles are of two kinds, (1) some that appear to have arisen 

 through a narrowing of the base of the blade, and (2) others 

 through a narrowing of the primitive sheath. The name foot 

 is suggested for a specialized portion of the leaf sheath that 

 serves as a petiole. Both the petiole and the foot are represented 

 in many plants, in such families as the Amygdalaceae, Rosaceae, 

 and Magnoliaceae. Stipules, bud scales, bracts, ligules, and pul- 

 vini are other specializations of the primitive sheath element, 

 and the blade also appears to have arisen as an outgrowth or 

 expansion of the sheath. 



ETHNOBOTANY. — Identity of cohoba, the narcotic snuff of 

 ancient Haiti. 1 William Edwin Safford, Bureau of Plant 

 Industry. 



The natives of Hispaniola, or Haiti, at the time of the Dis- 

 covery made use of a narcotic snuff, which they inhaled through 

 the nostrils by means of a bifurcated tube. This snuff induced 

 a kind of intoxication or hypnotic state, accompanied by visions, 

 which were regarded by them as supernatural. While under 

 its influence the necromancers, or priests, were supposed to hold 

 communication with unseen powers, and their incoherent mutter- 

 ings were regarded as prophesies or revelations of hidden things. 

 The same practice was also followed by their physicians in treat- 

 ing the sick, in order to ascertain the cause of maladies and to 

 determine remedies which should be used for their cure. This 

 snuff was called in the language of the islanders "coxoba" (the 

 sound of the x approaching that of the German ch, or the gut- 

 tural Spanish j) . In Spanish orthography the word was written 

 "cojoba," and in Italian "cogioba," a form which has been 

 incorrectly transcribed "cogiba" and "cojiba." These various 

 forms of the word might lead to confusion, were it not for the fact 

 that Las Casas clearly indicates its pronunciation, as follows: 

 "These powders and these ceremonies, or acts, were called 

 cohoba, the middle syllable long in their language, in which they 

 pronounce as in the Arabic, or like the Germans confusedly." 2 



1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of Agriculture. 



2 Las Casas. Apolog. Hist, de las Indias, Chapt. 166, pp. 445-446, ed. Serrano 

 y Saenz, Madrid. 1909. 



