AMERICAN ABORIGINAL PIPES AND SMOKING CUSTOMS. 403 



Humboldt lefers to the same habit among tlie Otomacs, whom, he 

 says, " gather the long pods of a mimosacea, cut them in i^ieces, moisten 

 them, and cause them to ferment, mixed with the flour of cassava and 

 hme, procured from the shell of a helix. The whole mass is exposed to 

 a brisk fire. When it is to be used, it is redu(;ed to a very fine powder 

 and placed in a dish; he holds the dish in his right hand and inhales 

 the niopo by the nose, through a forked bone of a bird, the two extrem- 

 ities of which are applied to the nostrils. This bone, without which the 

 Otomac believes he could not take this kind of snuff, is 7 inches long. 

 It appeared to me to be the leg bone of a large sort of a plover. Father 

 Gumilla says 'this diabolical powder of the Otomacs, furnished by an 

 arborescent tobacco plant [Orinoco illus.), intoxicates them by the nos- 

 trils; deprives them of reason, and renders them furious in battle.'"^ 



Nadaillac says, "Another Spanish historian tells us that the natives 

 of Hispaniola, to the great astonishment of the Spanish, placed a tube 

 with two openings in their nose, in order to lose none of the aroma of 

 the precious plant." ^ He further informs us, quoting Clavigero, who 

 lived in Mexico in 1775, "that the Aztecs gave to tobacco the name 

 •• pycietl,' which they were not satisfied to smoke in the shape of cigar- 

 ettes wrapped in corn leaves, but also inserted it in fine powder in their 

 noses. The powder thus employed served to clear the head, and its 

 virtue was so highly appreciated in Spain that it was called the 'sacred 

 herb.' " '' 



Herrera says of the Venezuelans, "They also use much tobacco for 

 rheumatism, humors, and pains in the head. They take it through the 

 nose mashed into powder; they drink the juice, and it makes a purge; 

 and it is also used by the Spaniards." ^ 



These references make it conclusive that the Y-like implement 

 referred to by Oviedo is identical with the bifurcated bird bone 

 referred to by Baron Humboldt, or the bone of a tapir as suggested 

 by Dr. Ernst, the only one known to the writer. is in the Museum of 

 the University of Pennsylvania, made from the l-^g bone of a llama. 

 The evidence, however, appears plain that Oviedo made no mistake 

 in attributing to the tube the properties of a pipe, a view f'ully sus- 

 tained by Monardes. 



The habit of using snuff appears to have been one of the pecul- 

 iarities of the j)eople of South America, who, so far as available writ- 

 ings indicate, did not smoke the pipe; and it is extremely dcmbtful if 

 they smoked at all until the i)ractice was introduced about the time of 

 the Conquest of Mexico by the Spanish; nor does the smoking habit 



'Alexander Humboldt and Aimo Bonplaiid, Personal Narrative, 1799 to 1801, V, 

 Pt. 2. p. 662. 



-Nadaillac, Les Pipes ot le Tabac ; Materiaiix pour 1" Histoire, Primitive et Natnrelle 

 de r homine, November, 1885, j). 498, (juotiug Istoria autica ilel Mexico Ccsene, 1780 

 to 1781, VII. 



^Idim, p. 498. 



••Herrera, Historia General, p. 139, Madrid, 1726. 



