564 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



DATURA SANGUINE A, THE SACRED NARCOTIC OF THE TEMPLE OF 



THE SUN. 



Plates 12 and 13. 



Humboldt and Bonpland give an account of the use of a reddish- 

 flowered Datura by the priests of the Temple of the Sam at Saga- 

 moza, situated in the interior of what is now the Republic of Co- 

 lombia. The narcotic prepared from it, locally called tonga, was 

 declared by the natives of that region to be more efficacious than that 

 prepared from the white-flowered Daturas. The following account 

 of its use is given by Tschudi, who found it growing in the Peruvian 

 Andes above the village of Matucanas : 



The Indians believe that by drinking the tonga they are brought into com- 

 muncation with the spirits of their forefathers. I once had an opportunity of 

 observing an Indian under the influence of this drink. Shortly after having 

 swallowed the beverage he fell into a heavy stupor; he sat with his eyes 

 vacantly fixed on the ground, his mouth convulsively closed, and his nostrils 

 dilated. In the course of about a quarter of an hour his eyes began to roll, 

 foam issued from his halftopened lips, and his whole body was agitated by 

 frightful convulsions. These violent symptoms having subsided, a profound 

 sleep of several hours succeeded. In the evening I again saw this Indian. He 

 was relating to a circle of attentive listeners the particulars of his vision, dur- 

 ing which he alleged he had held communication with the spirits of his fore- 

 fathers. He appeared very weak and exhausted. 



In former times the Indian sorcerers, when they pretended to transport 

 themselves into the presence of their deities, drank the juice of the thorn-apple 

 in order to work themselves into a state of ecstasy. Though the establishment 

 of Christianity has weaned the Indians from their idolatry, yet it has not 

 banished their old superstitions. They still believe that they can hold com- 

 munications with the spirits of their ancestors, and that they can obtain from 

 them a clue to the treasures concealed in the huacas, or graves ; hence the In- 

 dian name of the thorn-apple — huacacachu, or grave plant. 



Closely allied to Datura sanguinea Ruiz & Pavon, which Doctor 

 Rose collected near Ambate, Ecuador, is a species with equally nar- 

 row corolla, but easily distinguished from that species by the dense 

 soft hairs clothing its coarsely toothed leaves (fig. 13), younger 

 branches and peduncles. Doctor Rose collected it in 1918, in the 

 vicinity of Cumbe, Ecuador, noting that the flowers were of a saffron 

 yellow color. It is undoubtedly identical with the plant which 

 Lindley figured under the name Bmgmansia oicolor (Bot. Reg. 20, 

 t. 1739, 1834), believing it to be the plant so called by Persoon 

 (Synops., 1, 216, 1805). The latter, however, is a synonym of the 

 true D. sanguinea, and is a pubescent (not woolly) plant with entire 

 leaves. 



This species I have named Datura rosei, in honor of Dr. J. N. Rose 

 of the United States National Herbarium. Lagerheim, who mistook 

 it for D. sanguinea, states that in the vicinity of Quito it is called 



