NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS 453 
but I did not find it so, although I have tried it 
largely both on myself and others. The bitter 
unroasted seeds, as used in Venezuela, are probably 
more efficacious. . The general notion on the 
Amazon was, however, that guarana was rather a 
preventive of sickness, and especially of epidemics, 
than a cure for any, and Martius says of it ''pro 
panacea peregrinantium habetur," which is precisely 
the estimate made of it in the south of Venezuela. 
Gtiayiisa, a Tonic ttsed in the Eastern Andes 
Instead of Cupana or Guarana, the Zaparos and 
Jibaros, who inhabit the eastern side of the 
Equatorial Andes, have Guayusa, a plant of very 
similar properties, but used by them in a totally 
different way. The Guayusa is a true Holly (Ilex), 
allied to the mate or Paraguay tea {Ilex Para- 
guay ensis\ but wi-th much larger leaves. I was 
unable to find it in flower or fruit, and cannot say 
if it be a described species. The tree is planted 
near villages, and small clumps of it in the forest 
on the ascent of the Cordillera indicate deserted 
Indian sites. The highest point at which I have 
seen it is at about 5000 feet above the sea, in the 
gorge of the Pastasa below Banos, on an ancient 
site called Antombos, a little above a modern cane- 
farm of the same name. There, in 1857, was a 
group of Guayusa trees, supposed to date from 
before the Conquest, that is, to be considerably 
over 300 years old. They were not unlike old 
Holly trees in England, except that the shining 
leaves were much larger, thinner, and unarmed. 
When I travelled overland through the forest 
