Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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A Custom Analogous To The Use Of The Niopo Just Described Was Observed
By La Condamine Among The Natives Of The Upper Maranon.
The Omaguas,
whose name is rendered celebrated by the expeditions attempted in
search of El Dorado, have like the Ottomacs a dish, and the hollow
bone of a bird, by which they convey to their nostrils their powder of
curupa.
The seed that yields this powder is no doubt also a mimosacea;
for the Ottomacs, according to Father Gili, designate even now, at the
distance of one hundred and sixty leagues from the Amazon, the Acacia
niopo by the name of curupa. Since the geographical researches which I
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 Ottomacs of
the Orinoco and the Omaguas of the Maranon has become more interesting
and more probable. The former came from the Meta, perhaps from the
country between the Meta and the Guaviare; the latter assert that they
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) 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 Ottomacs and
the ancient civilization of the Omaguas; but all parts of the latter
nation were not perhaps alike advanced 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 Ottomacs and the Omaguas. Both of these
nations are celebrated among all the tribes of the Orinoco and the
Amazon for their employment of caoutchouc in the manufacture of
various articles of utility.
The real herbaceous tobacco* (for the missionaries have the habit of
calling the niopo or curupa tree-tobacco) has been cultivated from
time immemorial by all the native people of the Orinoco; and at the
period of the conquest the habit of smoking was found to be alike
spread over both North and South America.
(* The word tobacco (tabacco), like the words savannah, maize,
cacique, maguey (agave), and manati, belongs to the ancient language
of Haiti, 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-ma of the Omaguas is, no doubt,
the pety of the Guaranos; but the analogy between the Cabre and
Algonkin (or Lenni-Lenape) words which denote tobacco may be merely
accidental. The following are the synonyms in thirteen languages.
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