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NOTES OF A BOTANIST
empacho (to loosen the indigestion). Rubbing with
a dry hand is still better, and for lumbago and other
forms of rheumatism has sometimes an excellent
effect. There are persons who, by long practice,
acquire what is called "a good hand," and are much
sought after as sobadores or shampooers.
Nervous Stimulants used by the Indians
Several plants are used in South America as
nervous stimulants, and all are more or less narcotic.
Of these, the foremost place must be assigned to
Erythroxylon Coca (Lam.) Coca of the Peruvians,
Ipadu of the Brazilians. Of its use in Peru, chiefly
by miners and cargueros, Poeppig has already given
an excellent account. There the entire leaf is
chewed, with a small admixture of lime. But in
North Brazil, where also its use is almost universal,
I have always seen it used in powder. The plant
itself, a slender shrub, with leaves not unlike tea-
leaves, except that they are entire at the margins,
is frequently planted near houses. In Peru, as is
well known, there are large plantations of it, called
cocales. I have gathered it truly wild on the
near Tomo in
rocky banks of the Rio Negro,
Venezuela (hi). ; 3565) and an Erythroxylon (E.
cataractaruiu, n.
sp. hb. 2614), which I found grow-
on rocks in the cataracts of the
ing abundantly
Paapuris, a tributary of the Uaupes, which has
small dark -green leaves only an inch and a half
long, is considered by Mr. Bentham a variety of
the same species.
In January 1851 I saw ipadii prepared and used
on the small river Jauauari, near the mouth of the