662 



cassava and maize, and of palm wine, but they 

 throw themselves into a peculiar state of intoxi- 

 cation, we might almost say of madness, by the 

 use of the powder of niopo # . They gather the 

 long pods of a mimosacea, which we have made 

 known by the name of acacia niopo -f-, cut them 

 into pieces, moisten them, and cause them to 

 ferment. When the softened seeds begin to 

 grow black, they are kneaded like a paste, mixed 

 with some flour of cassava and lime procured 

 from the shell of a helix, and the whole mass is 

 exposed to a very brisk fire, on a grate of hard 

 wood. The hardened paste takes the form of 

 small cakes. When it is to be used, it is reduced 

 to a fine powder, and placed on a dish five or 

 six inches wide. The Otomac holds this dish, 

 which has a handle, in his right hand, while he 

 inhales the niopo by the nose, through a forked 

 bone of a bird, the two extremities of which are 

 applied to the nostrils. This bone, without 



* In Maypure, nupa ; the missionaries say nopo. 



+ It is an acacia with very delicate leaves, and not an inga, 

 as Mr. fVilldenow has said by mistake. {Spec. Plant., vol. iv, 

 pi. 2, p. 1027.) We brought home another species of mimo- 

 sacea (the chiga of the Otomacs, and the scpa of the Majr- 

 pures), that yields seeds, the flour of which is eaten at Uru- 

 ana like cassava. From this flour the chiga bread is prepared, 

 which is so common at Cunariche, and on the banks of the 

 Lower Oroonoko. The chiga is a species of inga, and 1 know 

 of no other mimosacea, that can supply the place of the ce- 

 realia. 



