On this occasion, Chindoy prepared the drug with the 
bark of Banisteriopsis Caapi (or possibly B. inebrians) 
and the leaves of B. Rusbyana that he had recently gath- 
ered inthe Mocoaregion of the adjacent eastern lowlands, 
The preparation of biavi is reserved to a small hut, 
biaxt wabwandi tambo, (biavti ‘cooking shelter’), which 
women are expected never to approach (see Plate X VII). 
It is believed that, should a pregnant woman come too 
near the hut, thunder and lightning will appear, and both 
the woman and the medicine-man will be killed instantly. 
Among other things, this taboo serves to prevent 
women’s learning how to prepare diavwi and thus intoxi- 
‘ate themselves when their husbands are travelling. 
While women can and do take diavi, they must never 
do so in the absence of their husbands. Furthermore, 
harmine and harmaline promote uterine contractions (3.2) 
and may cause abortion. If the women are aware of this 
possibility, the taboo discourages their using diawi as 
an abortifacient without the consent of their husbands. 
Whether or not pregnant women ever take biavu tor 
any purpose was not ascertained. 
The details of preparing (:avu vary somewhat, espe- 
cially between the ideal and the actual practice. Chindoy 
explained the procedure as follows: 
Beginning in the morning, boil forty liters of water, add a pile 
of bark scrapings to the boiling water, and stuff the pot full of 
cagrupenga leaves. At noon, throw out both the scrapings and the 
leaves and add the same amounts of fresh scrapings and leaves, 
continuing to boil for another three or four hours. Again remove 
the scrapings and leaves, but this time, add only twelve pairs of 
cagrupanga (24 leaves), boiling them for two additional hours. When 
they are taken out, the pot is cooled and the biaxit readied for use. 
As I had the opportunity to observe the complete 
preparation of biavwti by Chindoy, it seems worthwhile 
to record his actual procedures here. 
* n, 7 ro , * ie ; 
Late in the afternoon the biaxii wabwanayd (biaxii ‘cook’) started 
[ 126 | 
