cultural complex: there descends from the Andes the 
habit of chewing coca mixed with an alkalizer; and there 
ascends from the lowlands tobacco which is no longer 
smoked, to chew with the addition of an alkaline sub- 
stance as if it were coca. In Colonial times were added 
to this the receptacles in which the preparation is car- 
ried and the use of cowhorn in which to store the prod- 
uct. It is not impossible that in pre-Hispanic times, 
deerhorn receptacles were used. What is certain is that 
there is preserved today in the Andean states and in the 
western plains (Llanos) the old, pre- Hispanic complex, 
enriched by Colonial constituents. ”’ 
Mason (48) also feels that, as with tobacco, the use 
and form of chim6 resulted from contact with coca tech- 
niques. He comments that, in the western Amazon basin, 
tobacco is either licked or chewed: ‘‘This is doubtless 
due to the coca-chewing habit of the Andean highlands, 
many of these tobacco-licking tribes also chewing the 
coca leaf.’ ® 
The link between chim6 and tobacco concentrate is a 
very close one, and it introduces a second theory con- 
cerning chim6o in the Venezuelan Andes. 
Tobacco concentrate (ambil) is made and used by two 
widely separated groups of primitive Indians. One group 
is composed of tribes (notably the Witoto and Bora, but 
including the Jivaro, Campa and Piro) of the western 
Amazon basin. The other group (notably the Kogi or 
Cagaba, [ka and Sanka) is located in the Sierra Nevada 
de Santa Marta, in northeasternmost Colombia; their 
generic name is Arhuaco (20). 
The method of making tobacco concentrate of these 
tribes is essentially that of making chim6, although the 
product may be either a thick liquid or a paste. 
The utilization of tobacco concentrate among them 
[ 31 ] 
