STIMULANT AND SEDATIVE POISONING 177 



the pituri by barter with spears, boomerangs, etc. About the 

 beginning of March the pituri leaf is gathered and is sold in the 

 form of half-green, half-yellow tea mixed with plenty of chips. 

 The preparation is complex : it is first roasted in ashes, then wetted 

 with water, then teased with the fingers, and all larger pieces 

 removed. Then leaves of a species of wattle or gigeon are heated 

 over a fire and finally burnt, the ashes being retained and mixed 

 with the moist pituri on a ' pituri plate ' — i.e., a smooth surface — 

 and finally manipulated by the fingers into small rolls, 2 J inches 

 long by I inch thick. These rolls are chewed by the natives, and 

 are in great demand as a narcotic. Reserve rolls are carried at 

 the top of the ear. The Australian native names are: ' Maja ' 

 (Walookera), ' ne-em-pa ' (Yaroinga), ' un-da-kor-a ' (Undekere- 

 bina), ' pi-tCi-ri ' (Ul-aolinga), ' ti-rum-bol-a ' (Karanga), ' ta-rem- 

 b(3-la ' (Pitta-Pitta), ' moda ' (Kalkadoon). The alkaloid piturine 

 is identical with hyoscyamine. 



Betel. — -The chewing of betel is an extremely common practice 

 in the East, where the leaves of Chavica belle (piper betel) are 

 chewed with slices of the nut of Areca oberacea (Pinang or areca- 

 nut palm) and mixed with lime. Betel stimulates the salivary 

 glands, and, it is said, those of the digestive organs. It diminishes 

 the perspiration, and should be spat out and should not be swal- 

 lowed. The irritation may be the cause of the commonest cancer 

 of old people in these parts. In the young it may possibly be 

 the cause of heart and nerve diseases. 



Kola. — ^The kola nut so much used as a stimulant by the African 

 native is the produce of several species of the genus Sterculia 

 Linnaeus, of which the principal are St. tomentosa Thunberg and 

 St. acuminata Beaver, while St. nitida Vent, St. ballayi, St. verti- 

 cellata Thorne, and St. sphcsrocarpa may also be noted. This nut 

 has been known since the days of Leo Africanus in 1556, when it 

 was known in the Sudan as ' goro.' 



It is supposed to be a nervous system and cardiac stimulant, 

 it raises the blood-pressure and increases muscular power, and 

 certainly with kola nut and water a Haussa can travel far and 

 work hard, as we know personally. 



Analyses have been made and a glucoside, ' kolamin,' has been 

 obtained by Hilger and Knebel. 



Guarana.- — ^This substance, which is made into oblong or round 

 cakes, is sold in Brazil as guarana bread, being considered an 

 indispensable requisite for travellers. It is made from the seeds 

 of Paullinia sorbilis Martins (Sapindaceae), which are pounded 

 and sweetened. It is said to contain a white crystalline substance 

 which Theodore Martins called ' guaranene.' The Brazilians 

 consider guarana to be a stomachic, a febrifuge, and an aphrodisiac. 



Mate. — Paraguay tea is called ' mate ' from the cup out of which 

 it is drunk, or better ' yerba,' meaning herb or plant. St. Hilaire 

 was the first to find and name the Ilex paraguariensis, which 

 Lambert in 1824 changed to Paraguay ensis, and this is accepted 



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