14 Southwest Museum Leaflets 



beans to Europe to aid the perfumery business. The perfumers 

 used tonka beans as an ingredient in sachet powder and in 

 perfumers' bouquets. Nowadays tonka beans also are used 

 for flavoring smoking tobacco, perfuming snuff, and adulterat- 

 ing vanilla. 



The name tonka probably is a corruption of Tongking, as 

 at one time the beans were used extensively in mixing with 

 tobacco grown in Tongking, French Indo-China. 



The beans are derived from the majestic tonka tree, eighty 

 feet high, native of tropical America. 



Cashew Nuts — A tropical American tree of the cashew 

 (ka-shoo') family has been so extensively naturalized in 

 Africa and Asia that many people mistakenly believe cashew 

 nuts had their origin in those continents. 



The American Indian devised the method of treating the 

 nuts to counteract a highly corrosive poisonous juice. The 

 Indian's method was to roast the nuts in the shell, and this 

 treatment today is what makes cashew nuts so palatable and 

 wholesome. 



Pepper — The era of Columbus was a time when there 

 were no ice-boxes; so pepper and other spices were needed 

 from India to disguise the condition of meat. That was why 

 Columbus planned a short-cut to India by the water route. 

 The Spaniards did not find black pepper; all of that comes 

 from southern Asia. But in America they did find red pepper, 

 which was even more potent, — so the long voyage was justified. 



Thereafter pepper plants were grown extensively in the 

 Old World, resulting in the theory that red peppers were 

 native of Eurasia, even some botanists sharing in this mis- 

 understanding. But recently botanists have determined that 

 it is from plants developed in tropical America that the 

 world obtains all of its red pepper — Cayenne pepper (the 

 name of a seaport in French Guiana) , chile peppers (a Mexican 

 name), tabasco (name of a state in Mexico), pimiento (from 

 a Spanish word), and even Hungarian paprika. 



Cocaine — Probably centuries before people in the Old 

 World had any anesthetic whatsoever, Peruvian Indian sur- 

 geons were successfully performing difficult operations with 

 the aid of coca leaves, the source of cocaine. 



The prehistoric distribution of cultivated coca plants was 

 in western South America and Panama in North America. 

 They were very extensively grown by the Incas in their 



