Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1920 — Vision Caused by “Cohoba." [ARTICLE]

Vision Caused by “Cohoba."

Dr. W. B. Safford, of the government plant bureau, recently identified th* mimosa-like tree, which grows in Haiti, Porte Rico and ( other Islands of the AntiUes, as the producer of a powdered drug called “cohoba,’ which the natieea used when Columbus first arrived at the Island of Haiti. The needs of this tree are yielded in pods, which are roasted and ground to powder, which is sometimes mixed with lime from calcined snail shells. The tribal wizards, or jh-iests. while under the Influence es “cohoba,” were accustomed to hold communications with unseen powers, and their mutterings were construed as prophecies and revelations of hidden things. The powdmr was used as a snuff, and was inhaled through a forked wooden tube. The forks were Inserted in the neoHila a>d the lower end of the tube buried In a little heap of the snuff, which was held on a tray of carved wood. Sometimes large snail shells were used as snuff boxes. The natives used the snuff on ceremonial occasions. It proAiced a sort cd hypnotic state, with visions sapposed to be supernatural. The chemical properties of the dmr • nre still unknown so that its in! ng principle remains a mystc