likewise in accord with the way in which the drug is to be 
utilized.” 
In April-May 1977, while on Phase VII of the Alpha-Helix 
Amazon Expedition, 1976-1977, we had an opportunity to 
carry out ethnotoxicological investigations in the region of 
Pebas in Amazonian Peru, where the numerically most impor- 
tant Indians belong to the Witoto and Bora tribes. Many of 
these Indians, originally from the Colombian region of the Rios 
Karaparana and Igaraparana, were transplanted to the Pebas 
region in the 1930’s. Substantial populations still live in the 
Karaparana-Igaraparana region under Colombian jurisdiction, 
and there is still some contact between the several groups. 
Many of the Witotos in the Pebas area are now so accultu- 
rated that even the older men — although some know the kinds 
of Virola once employed for the drug — no longer are familiar 
with the relatively simple methods of elaborating the pellets for 
hallucinogenic use. The Boras, on the other hand, are some- 
what less acculturated and conserve many of their older tribal 
customs, notwithstanding the inroads of Western religious and 
civil influences. 
We were able to witness on several occasions the prepara- 
tion of the Viro/a paste amongst a group of Boras living in Brillo 
Nuevo on the Rio Yaguasyacu, anaffluent of the Rio Ampiyacu 
which, in turn, empties into the Amazonas at the town of 
Pebas. These Boras no longer take Virola, or cumala, as it is 
commonly known in Peru, for hallucinogenic purposes of 
witchcraft, but older members of the group still remember how 
their elders prepared and used the drug. Knowledge of the 
methods of preparation of the product has been handed down 
even to the younger generation. 
What has apparently often been forgotten, we found, is 
which of the sundry species of Viro/a in the forests of the re- 
gion were chosen for their psychoactivity and which were es- 
chewed. Consequently, we had the Indians prepare paste from 
all of the species available and later sorted them out chemically 
in the laboratory: some containing the active tryptamines, 
others lacking these indolic compounds. A phytochemical 
summary of these analyses will be the subject of a later paper. 
We are here interested primarily in outlining the methods em- 
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