fic identification, and he makes an observation which 
might indicate that he had assumed that this identifica- 
tion must be the correct one, even though he had no 
botanical specimens: 
Mimosa acacioides Benth. This snuff is distributed over a great part 
of tropical South America, from the Orinoco and the Guianas to the 
southern afHuents of the Amazon River. Likewise, the instruments 
which are used in taking the snuff are very similar. 
Somewhat later, Whiffen (Whiffen, T. : ‘‘The North- 
west Amazonas”’ (1915) 143) reported that: 
The Tuyuka and other tribes north of the Japura use as a stimulant 
paricd or niopo, a wonderful snuff which is a strong narcotic and very 
similar in its effects to coca. It is made from the dried seeds of a mi- 
mosa, and like coca, is mixed with quicklime and baked clay. The 
seeds are roasted and then pounded in a shallow wooden mortar, and 
the snuff, when made, is packed in snail-shells and is inhaled through 
hollow bird-bones inserted in both nostrils. 
It would appear that this reference of Whiffen (who 
never visited the 'Tuyuka country) to the snuff used by 
the tribes north of the Caqueta (Japura) may be based 
upon Koch-Griinberg, for in speaking of the Andoke and 
Karihona tribes, he wrote (loc. cit.): 
They all use tobacco-juice, coca, and a white snuff that I thought 
must be the famous niopo but could not find out anything about it. 
My own assumption would be that this ‘‘white snuff”’ 
is actually nothing but tobacco-snuff, which is widely 
used in the upper Amazon area, where it is always a 
greyish preparation, because of the large amount of ash 
mixed with the pulverized tobacco. It cannot be the 
myristicaceous snuff, for even after the admixture of 
ashes, this is of a brownish color. Furthermore, the use 
of the Virola-snuff is restricted to a few practitioners and 
is not permitted to all members of the tribe. 
Recently, Mr. Paul H. Allen, who was engaged dur- 
ing 1944 in botanical work in the region of the Vaupés 
River and its affuents, reported (Allen, P. H.: ‘‘Indians 
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