ways of using tobacco: smoking, chewing, eating, drink- 
ing, snuffing and licking. It is very closely related in 
method of preparation to the tobacco concentrate (ambi/) 
of several primitive South American Indian tribes: ambil 
is licked. ‘The method of use is somewhat similar to that 
of snuff, especially of snuff-dipping. Yet, in referring to 
chimo, Venezuelans employ the verb ‘to chew”* (mascar) 
or more often ‘‘to eat’’ (comer). 
Cooper (20) follows a widely accepted classification of 
tobacco uses, placing it in the category of licking. He 
cites Lewin (41), who considers chim6 between his dis- 
cussions of chewing and licking.' } 
For these and other reasons appearing in the course of 
this account, it is evident that chim6 is a very fascinat- 
ing way of utilizing what William Byrd LI of Westover 
called ‘‘that bewitching vegetable’’. Yet, chim6 has, for 
the most part, been passed over by writers on the use of 
tobacco. ‘There is very little available on chimo in Eng- 
lish, and not much more in Spanish either in the writings 
of the early chroniclers and their immediate successors 
or among modern commentators. 
The limited area of its use in western Venezuela and 
adjacent Colombia, plus the fact that it involves both 
primitive and contemporary factors and therefore does 
not fit into any one category, may account for this lack 
of attention. 
My reading in both English and Spanish has included 
material in ethnology, history, botany, economics and 
travel accounts; the areas of narcotics and drug use in 
general; and tobacco techniques in particular. 
In 1941, I spent several weeks in the Venezuelan 
Andes, visiting towns along the Trans- Andean Highway 
{ Superior numbers refer to notes at the end of the text. Numbers 
in parenthesis refer to bibliographic entries. 
[2] 
