‘*more or less salty, tending to sweet’’ and the flavor of ambil is 
“strong, piquant and salty’’; when they are mixed, the taste is 
‘‘very pleasant, warm, salty and slightly aromatie’’. 
It is significant that whereas in the Andes coca leaves are used 
toasted and crushed and mixed in the mouth with lime, the coca of 
the Amazon basin is pulverized after toasting and mixed with plant 
ash before use. Since plant ash is used in the making of both tobacco 
concentrate and chimo, here is an additional factor bringing the two 
into a close relationship. 
4. Tobacco concentrate and chimo parallels. Whiffen (68) and others 
describe the preparation and use of tobacco concentrate much as does 
Schultes. A comparison of these descriptions indicates that although 
details vary, the primitive process of making tobacco concentrate is 
essentially that of making chimé in modern Venezuela. 
Whiffen, who studied the Witoto, Bora and other tribes in the 
Colombian Amazon in 1908-1909, describes the making of ambil 
briefly. Leaves of tobacco are soaked in water, then pounded in a 
mortar; a little thickened cassava starch is added, and the mixture 
is ‘‘a stiff, dark liquid’’ to be used either individually or ceremonially, 
This procedure is also given by Cooper (20) who asserts that tobacco 
leaves may be soaked, pounded and mixed with cassava starch instead 
of being cooked, adding that, ‘‘a somewhat similar paste with the 
addition of other ingredients, is in use as pellets in contemporary 
Venezuela’’. 
A similar way of making tobacco concentrate is reported by Driver 
(26) for the Indians of California and Nevada who, in the past, ground 
tobacco leaves in a stone mortar with lime and water and licked the 
concoction off the pestle. 
Whiffen explains ceremonial uses of tobacco concentrate in detail : 
“The Indian parliament, the Indian court of law, is the ‘tobacco 
palaver’. When word has gone round that it is desired to hold a coun- 
cil, the warriors and elders of the tribe foregather, and squat on their 
haunches around the tobacco-pot which. . . is placed in their midst 
... When his final word is uttered, the spokesman will reach forward 
and take the pot, dip in a short stick, and wipe some of the black 
liquid on his tongue. He will then pass the pot around. . . and every 
man who has agreed with him will take tobacco. . . . The passing of 
tobacco is also used as a binding promise on every verbal agreement 
between individuals. In this case they will dip a small stick like a 
match into the liquid and pass it over the tongue, or put their fore- 
fingers into each others’ tobacco-pots, made from the hollowed husks 
of nuts and which are usually carried suspended round the neck by a 
string. The tobacco-pot comes into requisition again at a friendly 
meeting, and serves to emphasize the binding nature of this friend- 
[ 52 
