I. 
The population of Colombia is a racial mixture that is 
constantly increasing in complexity. It consists in great 
part of Europeans, especially from Spain, and of Indians 
from Middle America, the Antilles, the northern Andes 
and the Amazonian regions. There are also some ne- 
groes, mostly from Africa, who have intermingled with 
both whites and Indians, especially in some of the De- 
partments. All these groups have contributed their share 
to the spiritual and cultural complex which man repre- 
sents in Colombia. 
Much of Colombia, sparsely populated and with a 
dearth of roads, is occupied by Indian tribes which sub- 
sist wholly on local resources. The rivers provide these 
natives with roads, meat and drink; the plant kingdom 
furnishes their clothing, shelter, food, medicines, stimu- 
lants, narcotics and poisons; the animal world supplies 
food, diversion and other material for magic. 
These Indians employ sundry stimulants and narcotics 
of great potency in both magico-religious rites and in 
daily life as well. The accompanying map shows the 
wide distribution of the use of such plants. This is so 
great that it causes us to wonder why such a complex 
exists in Colombia. 
Many of the naturalists, ethnographers, explorers and 
geographers who have lived or travelled amongst these 
Indians have attempted to interpret the reason for the 
extensive use, and even near-abuse, of stimulants and 
narcotics in this area. Actually the reason is simple: it 
is due merely to primitive mentality which is mystical. 
The Indian considers all nature and the visible and im- 
agined cosmos to be endowed with spirit-forces. He does 
not recognize any boundary between natural and super- 
natural phenomena. This reason is in concord with that 
of Pardal (27) and Frazer (14), but is not in agreement 
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