NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS 429 
on it (as taken down from his account) is as 
follows : — 
The Catauixfs use niopo snuff as a narcotic 
stimulant, precisely as the Guahibos of Venezuela, 
and as the Muras and other nations of the Amazon, 
where it is called parica. For absorbing parica 
by the nose, a bent tube is made of a bird's shank- 
bone, cut in two, and the pieces joined by wrap- 
ping, at such an angle that one end being applied 
to the mouth, the other reaches the nostrils. A 
portion of snuff is then put into the tube and blown 
with great force up the nose. A clyster-pipe is made, 
on the same principle, of the long shank-bone of 
the tuyuyii [Mycteria arnericana). The effect of 
parica, taken as snuff, is to speedily induce a sort 
of intoxication, resembling in its symptoms (as 
described to me in this instance) that produced by 
the fungus Amanita nmscaria. Taken in injection, 
it is a purge, more or less violent according to the 
dose. When the Catauixi is about to set forth on 
the chase, he takes a small injection of parica, and 
administers another to his dog, the effect on both 
being (it is said) to clear their vision and render 
them more alert ! 
Herndon [Valley of the Amazon, p. 318) gives 
the following account of the use of parica among 
the Mundruciis, on the river Tapajoz, which he 
derived from an intelligent Frenchman (M. Maugin) 
who had traded among them. They powder the 
seeds of parica, make the powder into a paste, and 
repulverise a portion whenever they want to take 
it as snuff. Two quills of the royal heron, joined 
side by side, make a double tube, which is applied 
to the nostrils and the powder snuffed up with 
