506 
TOBACCO 
Father Grill, designate even now, at the distance of one hun- 
dred and sixty leagues from the Amazon, the Acacia niopo 
hy the name of cwrupa. Since the geographical researches 
which 1 have recently made on the scene of the exploits of 
Philip von Huten, and the real situation of the province of 
Papamene, or of the Omaguas, the probability of an ancient 
communication between the Ottomans of the Orinoco and 
the Omaguas of the Maraiion has become more interesting 
and more probable. The former came from the Meta, 
perhaps from the country betweim the Meta and the 
Guaviare ; the latter assert, that tney descended in great 
numbers to the Maranon by the Rio Jupura, coming from 
the eastern declivity of the Andes of New Grenada. Now, 
it is precisely between the Guayavero, (which joins the 
Guaviare, j and the Caqueta, (which takes lower down the 
name of Japura,) that the country of the Omagua appears 
to be situate, of which the adventurers of Coro and Tocuyo 
in vain attempted the conquest. There is no doubt a 
striking contrast between the present barbarism of the 
Ottomaes and the ancient civilization of the Omaguas ; but 
all parts of the latter nation were not perhaps alike ad- 
vanced in civilization, and the example of tribes fallen into 
complete barbarism are unhappily but too common in the 
history of our species. Another point of resemblance may 
be remarked between the Ottomaes and the Omaguas. 
Both of these nations are celebrated among all the tribes of 
the Orinoco and the Amazon for their employment of caout- 
chouc in the manufacture of various articles of utility. 
The real herbaceous tobacco * (for the missionaries have 
* The word tobacco ( tabacco ), like the words savannah, maize, 
cacique, maguey (agave), and manati, belongs to the ancient language 
of Hayti, or St. Domingo. It did not properly denote the herb, but the 
tube through which the smoke was inhaled. It seems surprising, that a 
vegetable production so universally spread should have different names 
among neighbouring people. The pete-vna of the Omaguas is, no doubt, 
the pety of the Guaranos ; but the analogy between the Cabre and A1 
gonkin (or Lenni-Lenape) words, which denote tobacco, may be merely 
accidental. The following are the synonymes in thirteen languages. 
North America. Aztec or Mexican ; yeti: Algonkin ; sema : Huron ; 
oyngoua. 
South America. Peruvian or Quichua; sayri: Chiquito ; pais. 
Guarany ; pety : Vilela ; tusup : Mbaja, (west of the Paraguay) nalo . 
dagadi : Moxo (between the Rio Ucayale and the Rio Madeira) saiare . 
Omagua ; petema ; Tamanac ; cavat • Maypure ; jema . Cabre ; scema . 
