416 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^, 1916. 



unlike old holly trees in England, except that the shining leaves were 

 much larger, thinner, and unarmed." During his travels he found 

 guayusa leaves to be a good substitute for tea or coflfee. As pre- 

 pared by the Jibaros Indians, however, the infusion is so strong that, 

 like the black drink of our own Indians, it acts as an emetic. The 

 guayusa pot, carefully covered up (like the pots in which the black 

 drink was brewed), was kept simmering on the fire throughout the 

 night. On awakenmg in the morning the Indian would drink 

 enough of the guayusa to make him vomit, his notion being he would 

 be benefited by the operation.^ It is interesting to note that many 

 Indian tribes both of North and South America practiced certain 

 ceremonies attended by purging or vomiting, believing that thereby 

 they would be freed from evil. 



THE BLACK DRINK OF FLORIDA AND THE CAROLINAS. 



(Plates 14 and 15.) 



Ilex vondtoria takes its specific name from the emetic effect of its 

 concentrated infusion, which under the common name of "black 

 drink" was used ceremonially by several tribes of our southern In- 

 dians. Mark Catesby, in his Hortus americanus (1763) speaks of it 

 as follows: 



The esteem the American Indians have for this shrub, from the great use 

 they make of it, renders it most wortliy of notice. They say its virtues have 

 been known among them fi'om the earliest times, and they have long used it 

 in the same manner as they do at present. They prepare the leaves for keeping 

 by drying or rather parching them in a pottage pot over a slow fire, and a 

 strong decoction of the leaves thus cured is their beloved liquor, of which 

 they drink large quantities, both for health and pleasure, without sugar or 

 other mixtiu'e. They drink it down and disgorge it with ease, repeating it very 

 often and swallowing many quarts. They say it restores lost appetite, 

 strengthens the stomach, and confirms their health, giving them agility and 

 courage in war. It gi'ows chiefly in the maritime parts of the'' country, but 

 not farther north than the capes of Vii'ginia. The Indians of the seacoast 

 .Supply those of the mountains therewith and carry on a considerable trade 

 with it in Florida, just as the Spaniards do with their South Sea tea from 

 Paraguay to Buenos Aires. Now, Florida being in the same latitude north as 

 Paraguay is south, and no apparent difference being found on comparing the 

 leaves of these two plants together, it is not improbable they may both be 

 the same. 



In South Carolina it is called cassena, in Virginia and North Carolina it is 

 known by the name of yopon ; in the latter of which places it is as much in 

 use among the white people as among the Indians, and especially among 

 those who inhabit the seacoast. 



The earliest written account of the ceremonial use of Ilex vomi- 

 toria is contained in the narrative of the expedition of Cabeza de 

 Vaca, who found it in use among the Cultachiches (1536), west of 



1 Spruce, Richard. Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes, 2 : 453. 1908. 



