—'TTrujillo, Carora, Timotes, Mucuchies, Mérida, San 
Crist6bal—observing the preparation of chim6, especially 
in Timotes, State of Mérida. In 1949, I spent ten days 
in Bocon6, State of Trujillo, interviewing a number of 
local people and visiting a small chim6é manufactory, 
where several individuals were employed but where 
machinery was not in use. Consequently, I observed 
both primitive and semi-commercial aspects of its pro- 
duction. Later, I studied a third aspect—the modern, 
commercial production. 
During 1968-1969, I carried on extensive corres- 
pondence with scholars and with several informants in 
Venezuela, among them a long-time collector of folk 
customs, resident of Trujillo State. 
There are some limitative points in the following dis- 
cussion of chimé. 1) My informant living in Trujillo 
stresses the fact that his first hand knowledge of chim6 
concerns only the area where he lives and that from lo- 
cality to locality there are variations in preparation and 
use and in beliefs concerning it. 2) Writers, especially 
in Spanish, borrow from each other constantly. A 
statement may, through repetition, gain weight that it 
does not deserve. 3) As chim6 has become a part of the 
culture of ‘‘the people’’ (el pueblo), it has become an 
element of folklore. Consequently, contradictions form 
an integral part of the information on its function in 
society. 
Part I 
CHIMO: WHAT? 
Definitions of chimo vary. The Venezuelan lexicogra- 
pher Alvarado (5) defines it as follows: ‘‘Chimo6—a soft 
extract of tobacco, alkalized’ and aromatized. The alkali 
chosen is wrao (sesquicarbonate of soda)* or bicarbonate 
of soda, or else lye made from ashes,‘ obtaining in the 
[3] 
