318 TlMEHRI. 
is called Yopa> and is very volatile, its virtues being lost in 
a few months. This Yopa (in Spanish spelt Llopa), is 
probably known in other parts as I have heard the word 
Enllopado used by the New Grenadians as signifying 
drunk, while in its original sense it would mean under 
the influence of Yopa. Thus if this derivation be correft 
this substance and its effects must have been at some 
time known to the Spaniards.* 
They chew the wood of a curious liana, which has 
the same effeft as the leaves of Erythroxylon coca : they 
can travel great distances existing only on the wood of 
this plant, and not feel the want of any other sustenance, 
I am inclined to think that at one time the Jesuits 
must have had a settlement in this direction, for I under- 
stood from the signs of the Indians that a day's journey 
down stream there was a house built of some hard material, 
* It is interesting in this conne&ion to recali the fa6t that a similar 
habit of snuff-taking has been described among other tribes in the same 
or neighbouring districts. Thus of the Ottomacs, who, like the 
Guahivos, are wandering Indians (Indios andantes) of the savannahs, 
very difficult to civilise, having a decided aversion to cultivating the 
land, and who live almost exclusively by hunting and fishing, Humboldt 
relates that they throw themselves into a peculiar state of intoxication, 
almost of madness, by the use of a snuff, or powder, of niopo. The 
snuff in this case, however, is prepared from the pods of a mimosacea, 
mixed with cassava flour, and lime from snail-shells, the whole being 
baked into small cakes, which are ground into powder before being 
used. The niopo is so stimulating that the smallest portions of it 
produce violent sneezing in those who are not accustomed to its use — a 
stimulating power apparently due to the freshly calcined lime. The 
niopo is taken by the Ottomacs in a peculiar manner. A forked bone 
is fitted to the nostrils, and through this the powder is inhaled. It is 
believed by them that the niopo cannot be tak en in any otherway. I 
have ascertained from Mr. Wallace that the Guahivos take their yopa in 
a similar manner. — Ed. 
