roTH] NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS ONAN 
caapi was introduced. An old man comes forward with a large, newly 
painted earthen pot, which he sets down in the middle of the house. 
He then squats behind it, stirs it about, and takes out two small cala- 
bashfuls, which he holds up in each hand. After a moment’s pause 
two Indians advance with bows and arrows or lances in their hands. 
Each takes the proffered cup and drinks, makes a wry face, for it is 
intensely bitter, and stands 
motionless perhaps half a 
minute. They then with a start 
twang their bows, shake their 
lances, stamp their feet, and re- 
turn to their seats. The little 
bowls are again filled and two 
others succeed them with a 
similar result. Some, however, 
become more excited, ete.” 
(ARW, 205). Spruce says that 
the cupbearer must be a man, 
because no woman can touch 
or taste caapi (RS, um, 419). 
Half a century later Koch- 
Griinberg reported the drug 
from the same area, described 
its preparation, the special type 
of colored earthen jar (pl.53 A) 
in which it is invariably kept Ftc. 67.—Gourds for pouring pepper juice 
(XG, 1, 298), and mentions the pa Neg ts 
fact of certain rattle spears and shields only being employed on occa- 
sions of caapi drinking ” (KG, 1, 345). 
289. Capsicum.—tThe use of peppers as a stimulant and excitant 
by the Makusi of the Rupununi might be included here. A small 
gourd (fig. 67) with an elongate neck, known as kassakra, is filled 
with crushed peppers and water. It is inserted into the nostril of 
the patient suffering with headache and the contents poured in (V. 
Roth). In the Pomeroon district it is a very common practice for 
the Indian women to give capsicum enemata to themselves and chil- 
dren by means of an apparatus made from the bladder of any of the 
larger-sized animals (sec. 921). 
