NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS 453 



but I did not find it so, although I have tried it 

 largely both on myself and others. The bitter 

 unroasted seeds, as used in Venezuela, are probably 

 more efficacious. The general notion on the 

 Amazon was, however, that guarana was rather a 

 preventive of sickness, and especially of epidemics, 

 than a cure for any, and Martius says of it "pro 

 panacea peregrinantium habetur," which is precisely 

 the estimate made of it in the south of Venezuela. 



Guayusa, a Tonic used in tJie Eastern Andes 



Instead of Cupana or Guarana, the Zaparos and 

 libaros, who inhabit the eastern side of the 

 Equatorial Andes, have Guayiisa, a plant of very 

 similar properties, but used by them in a totally 

 different way. The Guayusa is a true Holly (Ilex), 

 allied to the mate or Paraguay tea (Ilex para- 

 guayensis], but with much larger leaves. I was 

 unable to find it in flower or fruit, and cannot say 

 if it be a described species. The tree is planted 

 near villages, and small clumps of it in the forest 

 on the ascent of the Cordillera indicate deserted 

 Indian sites. The highest point at which I have 

 seen it is at about 5000 feet above the sea, in the 

 gorge of the Pastasa below Banos, on an ancient 

 site called Antombos, a little above a modern cane- 

 farm of the same name. There, in 1857, was a 

 group of Guayiisa trees, supposed to date from 

 before the Conquest, that is, to be considerably 

 over 300 years old. They were not unlike old 

 Holly trees in England, except that the shining 

 leaves were much larger, thinner, and unarmed. 



\Yhen I travelled overland through the forest 



