552 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 



him and had predicted good tunes or the contrary, or that children 

 were to be born or to die, or that there was to be some dispute with 

 their neighbors, and other things which might come to his imagination, 

 all disturbed with that intoxication; or if perhaps without it, what the 

 devil, to deceive them and win them to his worship, had brought to 

 them. 7 



The snuff itself was described by Las Casas as " finely ground 

 and of the color of cinnamon or powdered henna" (de color de 

 canela 6 de alhena ?nolida). 8 



THE COHOBA TREE STILL PERSISTS IN HAITI 



That a substance with the intoxicating effects of cohoba should 

 have been identified with tobacco seems strange; but if not 

 tobacco, what could have been its origin? Is the custom of tak- 

 ing a narcotic snuff by means of a bifurcated tube still in exist- 

 ence in any part of America? If so, from what plant is the snuff 

 prepared, and is this plant to be found growing on the island of 

 Haiti? These questions may be answered as follows: The cus- 

 tom of taking a narcotic snuff still prevails in various localities 

 of South America, showing that at one time it must have been 

 widely spread. In inhaling it some tribes used bifurcated tubes 

 which correspond very closely with the descriptions of those 

 used in Hispaniola. The plant from which the snuff is derived 

 is Piptadenia peregrina, a tree which grows both spontaneously 

 and in cultivation on the banks of the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers 

 and their tributaries. This tree does grow on the island of 

 Hispaniola, or Haiti, as well as upon the neighboring island of 

 Porto Rico and several other of the Antilles; and — most inter- 

 esting and convincing of all facts connected with it — it still bears 

 the name cohoba, which was applied in ancient times both to the 

 snuff itself and to the ceremonial practice of using it. 



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

 y Saenz, Madrid. 1909. 



8 Alhena is the name of the so-called Egyptian privet, Lawsonia inermis, 

 the powdered leaves of which, called henna, were used by the Egyptians for 

 coloring their finger-nails. The fragrant flowers of this plant are the principal 

 source of the perfume wafted by the breezes of "Araby the Blest." 



