556 safford: narcotic snuff, cohoba 



form of an enema: "Ein anderer Gebrauch des Paricd ist, einen 

 Absud da von sich selbst als Klystier zu geben." Administered 

 in this way, they say, the narcotic effect of the paricd is similar 

 but weaker than when taken in the form of snuff. Commenting 

 upon the custom, they continue: 



Man kann nicht umhin, durch diese viehische Lustbarkeit an die 

 eckelhafte Sitte der Ostiaken und Kamtschadalen erinnert zu wer- 

 den, welche sich bekanntlich durch den Genuss des Fliegelschwammes 

 [Amanita muscaria] . . . . zu einer ahnlichen Wuth erhitzen. 14 



ROBERT SOUTHEY's ACCOUNT OF PARICA SNUFF 



The Mura Indians of the Rio Negro, instead of Y-shaped tubes, 

 made use of tubes of another form, by means of which the men, 

 in pairs, blew the snuff into each other's nostrils. The following 

 description, published in 1819 by Robert Southey, was taken by 

 him from the MS. of P. Joam Ribeiro: 



Some of the Rio Negro tribes have an extraordinary and tremendous 

 ceremony, for which a large house is set apart in all their villages. It 

 begins by a general flogging, the men in pairs scourging and lacerating 

 one another with a thong, and a stone at the end: this continues eight 

 days, during which the old women, who, among the American savages, 

 officiate at most works of abomination, roast the fruit of the Parica 

 tree, and reduce it to a fine powder. The parties who had been paired 

 in the previous discipline are partners also in the following part, each 

 in turn blowing this powder with great force through a hollow cane 

 into the nostrils of his friend. They then commence drinking; and the 

 effect of the drink and the deleterious powder is such, that most of them 

 lose their senses for a time, and many lose their lives. The whole 

 ceremony continues sixteen days: it is observed annually, and is called 

 the feast of the Parica. 15 



IDENTITY OF TREES YIELDING SNUFF 



In early descriptions of cohoba snuff of Hispaniola there is 

 nothing to indicate the nature of the plant producing it. Oviedo, 

 as we have seen, confused it with tobacco. On the other hand 

 nearly all the descriptions of similar snuff used by South Ameri- 

 can Indians pointed to a mimosaceous tree bearing algaroba-like 

 pods as its origin. Humboldt, as cited above, described the 

 yupa, or niopa, as an Acacia; Spix and Martius, in the narrative 



14 Spix und Martius. Reise in Brasilien, 3: 1075. 1831. 



15 Southey, Robert. History of Brazil, 3: 722-723. 1819. 



