The species most important as sources of the intoxicating snuff are V. calaphylla, V. calophylloidea, V. elongata, and V. theiodora, the last-named being without doubt the most frequently employed. Yet locally, V. rufula, V. cuspidata, and other species may supply the drug. There are Indians, the primitive nomadic Maku of hte Rio Piraparana of Colombia for example, who ingest the red “bark-resin” directly,with no preparation, using V. elongata.
Other tribes,especially the Bora and Witoto, swallow pellets made from the paste of the resin, valuing for this purpose V. peruviana, V. surinamensis, V. theiodora, and possibly V. lorentensis. There is a vague evidence that shamans in Venezuela may smoke the bark of V. sebifera “at dances when curing fevers” or that they may boil the bark and drink the liquor “to drive away evil spirits.”
Unlike the Colombian Indians, among whom the use of the snuff is usually restricted to shamans, these tribes may often take the drug in daily life. All male members of the group above the age of thirteen or fourteen may participate. The hallucinogen is often snuffed in frighteningly excessive amounts and, in at least one annual ceremony, constantely over a two-or three-day period.
Preparation
Among the Colombian Indians, the bark is stripped from the trees in the early morning and the soft, inner layers are scraped. The shavings are kneaded in cold water for twenty minutes. The brownish liquid is then filtered and boiled down to a thick syrup which, when dried, is pulverized and mixed with ashes of the bark of a wild cacao tree.
The various groups of Waika have several other methods of preparation. Those living in the Orinoco area requently rasp the cambial layer of the bark and trunk and gently dry the shavings over a fire so that they may be stored for future use. When a supply of the drug is needed, the shavings are wetted and boiled for half an hour or more, the resulting liquid being reduced to a syrup, which, after drying, is ground to a powder and finely sifted.
This dust is then mixed with equal amounts of a powder prepared from the dried, aromatic leaves of a small plant, Justicia pectoralis var. stenophylla, cultivated for this purpose. Finally, a third ingredient is added: the ashes of the bark of an Ama or Amasita, a beautiful and rare leguminous tree, Elizabetha princeps. The hard outer bark, cut into small pieces, is placed in glowing embers, then removed, and allowed to smolder to ashes.
In more eastern areas of Waika country in Brazil, the preparation of the snuff takes place mainly in the forest. Trees are felled and long strips of bark are peeled from the trunk. A copious flow of liquid which rapidly turns a blood-red accumulates on the inner surface of the bark. After gently heating the strips, the shaman gathers the resin into an earthenware pot which is set on the fire. When the pot of red liquid is reduced to a thick syrup, it is sun-dried, crystallizing into a beautiful amber-red solid that is meticulously ground to an extremely fine dust-like consistency. This powder, Nyakwana snuff. may be employed directly, but usually the pulverized leaves of Justicia are added “to make it smell better.”
The Bora, Muinane, and Huitoto Indians of Amazonian Colombia and adjacent Perú use Virola not as a snuff, but by oral administration. They ingest small pellets or pills made from the resin to induce an intoxication during which the medicine men communicate with the “little people.”
These Indians utilize several species: V. theiodora, V. pavonis, and V. elongata, as well as possibly V. surinamensis and V. loretensis. The Bora of Perú indicate that they have used a related myristicaceous genus, Iryanthera macrophylla, as the source of a narcotic paste for making the pellets.
The Huitoto of Colombia completely decorticate the trunk of a Virola tree. The shiny cambial layer on the inner surface of the bark and adhering to the bare trunk is rasped off with the back of a machete, and the raspings are carefully collected in a gourd. This material gradually darkens to a brownish red. The still moist raspings are kneaded, squeezed repeatedly, and pressed over a wicker sieve.
The liquid that oozes through, primarily of cambial sap, has a light “coffe and milk” hue.
Without further preparation, this liquid is quickly boiled, possibly to inactivate enzymes which might destroy the active principles, and is then allowed to simmer, with frequent stirring, until its volume is reduced. When the liquid finally becomes pasty, the vessel is taken from the fire, and the paste is rolled into pellets for immediate use. These pellets may keep their potency, according to the natives, for about two months.
When the pellets are not for immediate consumption, they are usually coated with a “salt,” as the natives say, prepared from any of numerous plants. The “salt” is always made by the same process. The plant material is first burned and the ashes are placed in a crude funnel made of leaves or bark. Water seeps slowly through the ashes, dripping out through a hole at the bottom to be collected beneath. The filtrate is then boiled down until a gray-white residue or “salt”” remains. The pellets of sticky resin are rolled in this powder.
There is apparently a large assortment of plants employed for this “salt,” which the Witoto call Le-sa. The lecythidaceous Gustavia poeppigiana is a common source of the ashes for filtration.
In the same family, the bark of the huge tree Eschweilera itayensis is valued. An unidentified tree of this family, known to the natives as Cha-pe-na, is used. The woody stump of a species of Carludovica or Sphaeradenia of the Cyclanthaceseae is reduced to ashes for this purpose. The leaves and fragant inflorescence of the aroid Spathiphyllum cannaefolium give an ash which leaches out a high quality of “salt.” The bark of a wild
species of Theobroma, or several small palms, probably species of Genoma and Bactris, are similarly used.
The Bora of Perú strip pieces of bark, only from the lower 4-8 ft of the trunk. The hard, brittle outer layer of bark is chipped off, leaving only the softer inner phloem. This later quickly turns brown from congealed oxidized resin and is vigorously pounded on a log with a mallet until it is shredded. These shredded sections are soaked in water with occasional kneading for half an hour or more, when the pot is brought to a vigorous boil for another half-hour. The bark material, squeezed dry, is then removed, and the remaining liquid is boiled with constant stirring until only a thick paste remains.
Small pellets for ingestion are then made from this paste. Fewer plants are used by the Bora for preparing the “salt” for coating the pellets: the leaves and stump of a species of Carludovica and a palm of the genus Scheelea.
The hallucinogenic principles appear to be present mainly in the almost colorless exudate from the inner surface of the bark, which appears as soon as the bark is stripped from the tree. This resin-like substance quickly turns reddish in a typical oxidase-type reaction and then darkens, drying to a hard, glossy mass. In specimens dried for chemical study, it appears as a sticky, dark reddish brown gummy material. This material in many species contains tryptamines and other indolic hallucinogens. Observation of the process indicates that the reason for scraping the surface of the bark is to obtain all traces of the cambial layer that adheres to it.
The drug is prepared from the cambial sap, which is quickly boiled, causing coagulation of protein and possibly polysaccharides, and then simmered slowly to reduce the volume to near dryness. The whole process resembles that used for isolation of natural produces from the cambium of other trees, coniferin from gymnosperms, for example, except that ethyl alcohol or acetone is now used, rather than heat, to destroy enzyme activity, which might otherwise act
adversely on the desired product.
The resin of Virola plays an important role in everyday native medicine: several species are valued as antifungal medicines. The resin is spread over infected areas of the skin to cure ringworm and similar dermatological problems of fungal origin which are so prevalent in the humid tropical rainforests.
Only certain species are chosen for this therapeutic use; and the choice seems not to have any relationship to the hallucinogenic properties of the species.
Indians who are familiar with Virola trees from the point of view of their hallucinogenic
potency exhibit uncanny knowledge of different “kinds”–which to a botanist appear to be indistinguishable as to species. Before stripping the bark from a trunk, they are able to predict how long the exudate will take to turn red, whether it will be mild or peppery to the tongue when tasted, how long it will retain its potency when made into snuff, and many other
hidden characteristics.
Whether these subtle differences be due to age of the tree, season of the year, ecological situations, conditioning of flowering or fruiting, or other environmental or physiological factors it is at present impossible to say. But there is no doubt about the Indians’ expertise in recognizing these differences, for which he often has a terminology, so significant is his hallucinogenic and medicinal use of the trees.
