Among most primitive South American tribes of the 
present, tobacco is not the only narcotic in use. It is 
often employed with coca or as an alternative to coca; 
it is utilized in one form or another as an alternative to 
several other narcotics, all of plant origin, or to primi- 
tively made alcoholic beverages. 
Ik'rom tobacco in general to chimo in particular is a 
short, yet not a simple, step. 
Early accounts of primitive Andean Venezuelan tribes 
who used chimo are meagre, and they vary considerably 
in detail. A carefully researched contemporary account 
is that of Acosta Saignes (1). In describing the culture 
of the pre-Columbian Timoto-Cuicas, he relies largely 
on the early chroniclers and the work of Jahn and recent 
writers among Venezuelan authorities. Acosta Saignes 
lists chimoé (and wrao) among the industries of the 
Timoto-Cuicas and indicates that there was extensive 
communication and trading among tribes of a large area. 
In another monograph (2), he explains the process by 
which smoked tobacco could have been transformed to 
the licked type, of which chim6o is an example. ‘‘Why 
was chimo found only in the Venezuelan Andes and pos- 
sibly in their periphery’ To answer that question, we 
remember the custom of chewing coca or hayo mixed 
with lime, in the Andean culture area. This trait was 
extended to the Venezuelan coast as an expansion of 
the Andean culture. In the case of chim6, we see a con- 
trary movement: tobacco, characteristic of the lowlands, 
ascends to the mountain range, to the 'Timoto-Cuica 
area. But the phenomenon does not limit itself to the 
ascent but also the tobacco on being mixed with wrao or 
other alkaline substance to obtain chimo, simply made 
use of the mixing system which was customary with coca 
or hayo. We are... in the presence of a coterminous 
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