boom, they fled from virtual enslavement, and suffered 
much cultural disintegration. The Bora, a kindred tribe 
with many of the same customs, have preserved more of 
their indigenous culture. 
In view of these circumstances, it is interesting to 
compare Whiffen’s (68) account of the making of tobacco 
concentrate and its use as he observed it in 1908-1909, 
and other early reports, with that of Schultes. 
Schultes (55) introduces his account of the making of 
tobacco concentrate among the Witoto of the Colombian 
Amazonia with a brief résumé of its use and that of 
coca by this tribe. 
“It is applied to the tip of the tongue with a small 
stick. . . . It is usually kept in containers made of half 
the fruit of the wild cacao (Theobroma glaucum Karsten) 
.... Occasionally (this) ambi can be kept in containers 
of glass or tin, but the Indians think that the wild cacao 
shell contains something sweet that improves the flavor 
of the ambil. For this reason, it is preferred to any other 
kind of container. ... There is a close connection be- 
tween the use of tobacco and of coca among the Witoto 
.... As prepared by them and others, coca has a more 
or less salty taste and is pale green; it is always prepared 
as a powder. The toasted leaves of Irythroaylon Coca 
Lam. are pulverized in a hollowed log and the resultant 
powder is mixed with well-sifted ashes of the leaves of 
yarumo (Cecropia peltata 1.) and with the ashes of other 
species of the same genus. A tablespoonful or more. . . 
of this mixture is taken at intervals during the day. It 
is true that at times coca is taken without tobacco and 
that ambi/ is used at times by those who are not coca- 
chewers. However, usually a little ambi/ is placed on the 
tip of the tongue just before taking coca.”’ 
Witoto women do not use coca, but some use ambi, 
according to Schultes, even during pregnancy, when 
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