The dynamics of the Huancabamba cult have been discussed 

 in some detail by a number of authors (Schultes and Hofmann 

 1979, 1980, Dobkin de Rios 1968, 1969, Sharon 1972, 1978, 

 Friedberg 1959, 1960, 1963, 1980). The purpose of this paper is 

 to introduce a number of novel ethnobotanical observations 

 which I was able to make during my fieldwork in the region in 

 1981, including the discovery of a cactus previously unreported 

 as an hallucinogen and a folk legend that offers evidence of the 

 continuity of indigenous religious beliefs in the otherwise 

 thoroughly "mestizada" culture of contemporary Huancabamba. 

 For comparative purposes an account of the nocturnal curing 



ritual is presented. 



Of the antiquity of the use of the San Pedro cactus in northern 

 Peru there can be no doubt. Engraved stone carvings at Chavin 

 dating to 1300 B.C. feature an anthropomorphic figure clutching 

 a section of the cactus (Schultes and Hofmann 1979). Repre- 

 sentations of the cactus show up on Chavin textiles, Nazca 

 ceramic urns and Moche and Chimu ceramics (Schultes and 

 Hofmann 1979, Friedberg 1963, Sharon 1978) and Towle (1961) 

 has suggested that cacti were probably under domestication on 

 the coast of Peru as early as the Early Intermediate (200 BC-600 



AD). 



A far greater challenge has been to establish continuity 



between the pre-Columbian use of this cactus and the present 

 day cults. Historically, contact between western societies and 

 indigenous societies in the New World stimulated novel adapta- 

 tions as the indigenous societies were forced to adapt themselves 

 to phenomena outside the range of their traditional experiences. 

 Messianic movements in North America are one well known 

 adaptation of this nature, but one closer to the Huancabamba 

 example is found in the intensification of shamanistic activity 

 among South American groups under the pressure of contact 

 and acculturation (Harner 1973, Hudelson 1981). In the early 

 postcontact era, the indigenous population of the entire north 

 coast of Peru, including the adjacent regions of the Andean 

 Cordillera, was utterly devastated (Rowe 1948); and, as late as 

 the mid-18th century, much of the region remained depopulated 

 (Von Hagen 1964). Under such pressures, the indigenous 



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