Nores—Panrrt I 
1. Licking. Ramon y Rivera, authority on Venezuelan folklore, 
questions the word “‘licking’’. He says (pers. comm.), “‘In any case 
it is not ‘licking’ but ‘teething’ —chupado (sucked )—since to lick any- 
thing the tongue is protruded, and this is not done.”’ 
At the risk of seeming to quibble, I cite a dictionary definition: 
*‘lick—pass the tongue over’’ (Webster’s New World Dict., College 
Ed., 1964). According to this definition the tongue need not be pro- 
truded. I simulated the use of chim6 by applying a pea-sized bit of 
soft caramel to the inner surface of the lower teeth. In my experience, 
the tongue continually passes over the dissolving material and thus 
may be said to “‘lick’’ it. By contrast, in snuff-dipping, the powdered 
tobacco is placed in the mouth between gum and cheek, where it is 
sucked, not licked or chewed (34). 
2. Alkalizing agents. Nicotiana Tabacum contains the alkaloid nico- 
tine. Unlike some other alkaloids, nicotine does not require an alka- 
lizer to free it. Laboratory tests, however, show that the presence 
of an alkalizing agent accelerates and intensifies the action of the 
alkaloid on the human organism (382). 
Lewin (41) reports: ““We are here once more confronted with the 
remarkable practice of adding alkaline substances to stimulating or 
narcotic remedies. . . this is done in the case of. . . coca and betel 
and also in that of tobacco. Peoples of all kinds have instinctively 
found the most suitable means of setting free the active elements of 
the plant and enabling them to pass into the organism.”’ 
With chim6, the alkalizing agents used are water in which plant 
ash has been soaked to make lye (cernada), urao (sesquicarbonate of 
soda) and bicarbonate of soda. 
The use of ash from plant material is a common addition to tobacco. 
Lewin cites several instances in the Old World, especially in the case 
of snuff and chewing tobacco. Plant ash is alsoa New World additive 
to tobacco and other narcotic substances (55, 63). 
3. Urao. Urao (also jurao, hurao, xurao, sesquicarbonate of soda, 
the trona of Africa) is found in the bed of a lagoon at Lagunillas, 
near the city of Mérida, Tachira State. It has been in use—not ex- 
clusively with chim6é—since pre-Columbian times and is reported to 
be nearly exhausted (1; Venez. Minis. de Fomento, pers. comm. ). 
The urao—a grayish or yellow-gray, water-soluble, alkaline-tasting 
substance, occurs in lenticular layer formation of varying thickness. 
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