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 *\~, 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. Willdenow 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 sepa of the May- 

 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 iwga, and I know 

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

 realia. 



