replies that it prevents hunger and fatigue. Like coca 
users, he can delay or even omit breakfast, if he has his 
little meal (comidita) of chimé. He can do more work 
and stave off exhaustion if he has a chew (mascada) in 
his mouth. 
Chimo users insist that it is a “healthy habit (vczo).”’ 
It enjoys, furthermore, a major role among household 
remedies. Some of its applications include: to stop a 
cough, relieve headache, cure dysentery and toothache; 
it is said also to be good for asthma, influenza, stomach- 
ache and aches in the limbs (20, 27; ‘Tesser, pers. comm. ). 
In most of these cases, chim6o is applied to the affected 
part. Folk medicine suggests, too, the taking of a little 
chimo after getting chilled or wet to avoid catching cold 
(27). Identical cures are attributed similarly to chewing 
or smoking tobacco. 
Common also to chimo and tobacco in general is the 
belief that it protects and preserves the teeth. Diaz (24) 
reports: ‘‘The custom of cleaning the teeth with tobacco 
keeps them white and preserves them against decay.”’ 
Dupouy (27) asserts: ‘There are those who clean their 
teeth with chimo because, according to common advice, 
it results in very pretty teeth. In Mérida, they believe 
that it protects the teeth as well.’’ Billings (10), speak- 
ing of young ladies in Virginia who dip snuff, comments 
that ‘‘tobacco sweetens the mouth.*’ How is it, then, 
that the teeth of a popular saint of the Andean region, 
are black?" A much-quoted couplet about him—among 
many of similar content—goes as follows: 
San Benito viene, 
Viene °e Bocond— 
Con sus dientes negros 
De comer chimo. 
Saint Benedict is coming, 
Coming from Boconb— 
With his teeth all black 
From eating chimo. 
[ 24 ] 
