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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However Varied May Be The Family
Of The Leguminous Plants In The Chemical And Medical Properties Of
Their Seeds, Juices,
And roots, we cannot believe, from what we know
hitherto of the group of mimosaceae, that it is principally the
Pod of
the Acacia niopo which imparts the stimulant power to the snuff of the
Ottomacs. This power is owing, no doubt, to the freshly calcined lime.
We have shown above that the mountaineers of the Andes of Popayan, and
the Guajiros, who wander between the lake of Maracaybo and the Rio la
Hacha, are also fond of swallowing lime as a stimulant, to augment the
secretion of the saliva and the gastric juice.
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.
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