CHAPTER XXV 



INDIGENOUS NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS USED BY 

 THE INDIANS OF THE AMAZON 



[THIS chapter consists of a carefully written account 

 of the above subject, compiled by Spruce about 1870 

 from his notes and observations, and printed in the 

 short-lived Geographical Magazine. Fortunately, he 

 presented the beautifully written manuscript to his 

 Yorkshire friend and fellow-botanist, Mr. G. Stabler, 

 of Milnthorpe, Westmoreland, who has kindly lent 

 it me for reproduction here, and I feel sure that 

 it will be both new and interesting to the great 

 majority of readers of this volume. Besides its 

 main subject, it touches upon the beliefs and customs 

 of the Indians who use these narcotics, and on the 

 proceedings of their " pajes " or medicine-men; and 

 incidentally it narrates the occurrence of rare and 

 mysterious sounds in the forest, and their very 

 curious explanation, which I believe he was the first, 

 and probably still the only, traveller to obtain. The 

 whole essay affords a good example of the writer's 

 style and of his power of making even technical 

 details interesting, and of introducing bright de- 

 scriptive flashes and touches of human nature in 

 what might otherwise be a rather dry exposition of 

 botanical and pharmaceutical facts. Two paragraphs 



413 



