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Botany

keep their own supply of shinā and sniff it mainly in the afternoon and evenings when they have finished their work. To us, the most serious aspect of the Jamamadis' usage of shinā is its use by even small children. One four-year-old seemed to take it daily, and many other children had their own bottles of snuff which we were able to trade with them, in exchange for brightly colored material, coins which they use as pendants, fish hooks, candies, and other trade goods which we always carry when visiting Indians.

Medicines. As is the case in most Indian tribes, the Jamamadis have many medicinal plants which they use to cure almost any of the common ailments. We collected their cures for coughs, sore throats, rheumatic pains, and worm infestations. One apparently effective medicine is their toothache cure which they call "Washi," using the root of a species of Piper, a relative of the condiment pepper. A small piece of root is chewed and, when placed on the tooth, gives immediate relief. When we tried this root it produced a tingling sensation in the tongue and gums, and had a definite anesthetic effect.

Pottery. An intriguing plant use is the hardener which several tribes use in their excellent ceramics. The bark of the "Caripé" tree, Licania octandra, a member of the plant family Chrysobalanaceae, is rich in silica grain (sand) which is widely used in hardening pottery. A fire is made exclusively of "Caripé" bark, and the resulting ash is sifted in a basket-work sieve before being mixed with the pottery clay. The ceramics containing this ash are much harder than others and they have a metallic ring.

We often tend to dismiss Indians as "primitive people," but their plant uses demonstrate that they are a people highly adapted to their environment, drawing much from it. They remember, too, the possibility of exhausting it. □

Acknowledgments
Dr. Ghillean T. Prance, B.A. Krukoff Curator of Amazonian Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, gratefully acknowledges support of his field work by NSF grant GB-18653 and also wishes to thank the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia in Manaus for co-sponsorship of the field program. Especial thanks are due to the two people who arranged and set up the expedition for Dr. Prance and his wife to the Jamamadis, Mr. Fred Orr, missionary of Lábrea and Sr. Moacir Canizo de Brito, owner of Seringal Jurucuá where the Jamamadi Indians live.