452 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
CHAP. 
region, whither it was conveyed from Santarem 
and the Mauhes by the long and dangerous naviga- 
tion of the Tapajoz, it was worth six or eight times 
as much. The usual form of the sticks was long 
oval or nearly cylindrical ; but in Martius's time 
(1820) guarana was "in panes ellipticos vel 
globosos formatum," and old residents at Santarem 
had seen it made up into figures of birds, alligators, 
and other animals. The intense bitterness of the 
fresh seed is almost dissipated by roasting, and a 
slight aroma is acquired. The essential ingredient 
of guarana, as we learn from the investigations of 
Von Martius and his brother Theodore, is a prin- 
ciple which they have called guaranine, almost 
identical in its elements with theine and caffeine, 
and possessing nearly the same properties. 
Guarana is prepared for drinking by merely 
grating about a tablespoonful into a tumbler of 
water and adding an equal quantity of sugar. It 
has a slight but peculiar and rather pleasant taste, 
and it affects the system in much the same way 
as tea. I was told that at Cuyaba the thirsty 
miners used to resort to the tabernas, in the 
intervals of their toil, and call for a glass of guarana, 
just as they would for one of lemonade, or of agoa 
doce. The brothers Martius strongly advocated the 
introduction of guarana into the European pharma- 
copoeias, and pointed out the maladies wherein its 
use seemed indicated. In South America I have 
frequently seen it of late years exhibited in nervous 
affections, and it has even come to be regarded as a 
specific against the jaqueca {i.e. hemicrania) which 
is the fashionable ailment of a Peruvian lady. It 
has had the reputation of a remedy for diarrhoea, 
