small portion of Peru which borders upon the Colombian 
Putumayo, and northeastern Ecuador as far south as 
Agaurico and possibly beyond. 
It is strange that the use of yoco is so restricted since 
Paullinia Yoco or very closely allied species apparently 
have a wider range. The Huitoto and Bora Indians of 
the Colombian Intendencia del Amazonas do not use 
yoco, do not know the plant by this name, and are not 
aware of the purpose for which Indians of the neighboring 
parts of the Putumayo employ it. Even those Huitotos 
who have migrated from the Amazonas to the Coreguaje 
Indian area of the Caqueta and who have adopted many 
Coreguaje customs, have not taken up the use of yoco. 
The fact that the Huitoto Indians use coca habitually 
might seem to explain their lack of interest in yoco. This 
is not the case, however, for in the town of Nuevo Mundo 
(near Tres Esquinas), Caqueta, I found the Coreguaje 
Indians employing both coca and yoco. 
So far as | have been able to ascertain, the only tribes 
which drink yoco are the Ingas of Mocoa, Umbria, 
Puerto Lim6n and other localities in the Putumayo; the 
Sionas of the Putumayo; the Kofins of San Antonio 
Guamues, Puerto Conejo, Santa Rosa, and Puerto Ospina 
in the Putumayo and of Aguarico in Ecuador, and the 
Coreguajes of the Caqueta. (cf. also Claes: ‘‘Chez les 
Indiens Huitotos et Correguajes”’ Bull. Soc. Roy. Belg. 
Geogr., fase. 2 (1981) 101— Gaspar de Pinell, loc. cit., 
161.) All of these Indians use the name yoco which is 
apparently of Inga origin. In the language of the Kofan, 
Siona and Coreguaje Indians there is no name for Pau/- 
linia Yoco. 
Although it is a stimulant and not a food, Paullinia 
Yoco is one of the most important plants in the diet of the 
Indians of the Putumayo and western Caqueta. Every 
Indian household keeps a large supply of yoco stems, 
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