rial is placed in a canoe with a little water, where it is stamped to 
extract the active principle. Then either the canoe is overturned 
into the pool or its contents are ladled out into the water with 
calabashes to distribute the poison. Often, the crushed material 
is placed in loosely-woven bags or baskets which are then 
plunged up and down or dragged through the water. A variant of 
these procedures, reported by Schultes (pers. comm.), is em- 
ployed in eastern Colombia by the Kubeo. They pound the fruits 
of a species of Caryocar (Caryocaraceae) in a mudhole. The 
resultant mixture of fruit pulp and mud is then cast into pools. 
Fishing with toxic plant material is always a collective enterprise 
in which several or many men participate. It is not customary for 
the women of most South American groups to take part in the 
actual fishing, though they may sometimes carry the catch to the 
village. It is not certain, from reports, whether or not barbasco 
(timbo) fishing in central Brazil is exclusively a masculine opera- 
tion. It is stated that the women carry the catch back to the 
village to avoid bringing bad luck to the fishermen (16). 
In a somewhat different type of fishing, characteristically 
practiced by women, plants which act as a stomach poison are 
utilized. The plant material is ground, mixed with a substance 
attractive to fish, and made into small pellets which are thrown 
into the water. Among these is cuna (an Achagua word for 
barbasco (19), probably Tephrosia spp.) the root of which is 
mixed with maize dough. Another is Clibadium asperum, which 
is mixed with finely chopped meat. Most accounts of the use of 
toxic plants describe the fish as stunned and sometimes dying 
almost immediately, rising to the surface within a few minutes 
after the poison is thrown into the water. With the use of some 
stomach poisons, however, hours or even days may elapse 
before they appear on the surface. Results are believed to vary 
depending on the type of toxin in the plant utilized. Alkaloids 
seem to produce more immediate effects than saponins and 
tannins (11). 
A notable characteristic of fish-drugging is its recreational 
aspect. The men of a primitive community regard a fish- 
poisoning expedition as a holiday from their daily tasks. It 
cannot be considered a sport, though it provides a diversion, 
since for these peoples it is a necessary part of the food quest. 
One of the few early European eyewitness descriptions of two 
kinds of fishing with plant poisons by South American Indians is 
77 
