Native Indians

The geological stratification of the Athabasca deposit is presented in Figure 2. As with most rivers in this region of Western Canada, the Athabasca River has gouged a deep river valley, exposing the oil sands deposits along its banks. On warm days the bitumen oozes from the river banks and eventually works its way to the water line. Native Indians used this bitumen, mixed with spruce gum, to patch their canoes. 

Although there are many other kinds of insect waxes, only two are of economic importance namely, shellac wax and Chinese insect wax. Shellac wax is derived from the lac insect, a parasite that feeds on the sap of the lac tree indigenous to India. The commercial wax is not ordinarily the native Indian lac wax, but is a by-product recovered from the dewaxing of shellac spar varnishes. Lac wax melts at 72-80°C, whereas commercial shellac wax melts at 80-84.5°C. Its high melting point and dielectric properties favor its use in the electrical industry for insulation. Chinese insect wax is the product of the scale insect. 

Beverly, R., The History of Virginia, I. The history of the first settlement of Virginia and the government thereof, to the year 1706, II. The natural productions and conveniencies of the country. .., III. The native Indians. ..,IV. The present state of the country... by a native and inhibitant of the place, London, 1722. 

Today we know that this run on Mexico s mushrooms helped destroy the cultural identity of the native Indians, causing discontent and rising crime rates in several villages. Self-appointed "curanderas", with no traditional roots, presided over mass ceremonies with magic mushrooms. 

In the meantime, Parliament began hearing reports that Sepoys, native Indian soldiers serving in the British army, were using ganja and, as a result, the efficiency of Her Majesty s armed forces was being undermined. 

Menispermaceae contains many medicinal and toxic plants. Some of the South American Menispermaceae were used by native Indians for their curare activity [7]. The western world was introduced to the muscle relaxants by the Spaniards, who encountered these arrow poisons in 1514 [7, 95]. The main South American Menispermaceae species used to prepare pot/tube curare are Chondrodendron tomentosum, and three of the four known curarea genus, Curarea candicans, C. tecunarum and C. toxicofera [7]. 

Table IV. The genera and the species of South American Menispermaceae used as medicine by native Indians.

Brazil has been associated with the use of bioproducts since its discovery. One example is the exportation of brazilwood, which started in the sixteenth century and continues to this day. This wood is valued for its resistance, but it also produces a pigment that has been used by craftsmen for many years as an important source of a variety of colors (Figure 1). Through acid treatment with vinegar or yeast, the craftsmen could obtain different shades of red and, when made alkaline with ash, other colors such as purple could be obtained. Pigments from plants have also been used by the native Indians, a good example of which is the red carotenoid pigment known as urucum. 

Back to South America, in the appendix of his book The Rivers Ran East, about exploring the headwaters of the Amazon, Leonard Claik lists many native Indian pharmaceuticals known at the time, approximately about 1946. Other descriptions contained in the text, if not specific, are certainly intriguing. Earlier, as has been indicated. Colonel P. H. Fawcett had made a number of entries in his journals, published as Lost Trails, Lost Cities. It may be assumed that many more are known today, as studies of the Amazonian rain forest proliferate, before time runs out, in the face of its continued destraction. 

As for livestock and livestock diseases per se, in his explorations of Tibetan frontiers, Leonard Clark, in his book The Marching Wind, reported hearing of cures and controls for both rinderpest and anthrax from the fierce Ngolok tribesmen he encountered. (As previously noted, in his earlier book The Rivers Ran East, about exploring the headwaters of the Amazon, Colonel Clark listed many of the native Indian pharmaceuticals then known.)... 

Although it was reported [24] that a water decoction of Stevia leaves was used as an oral contraceptive by Paraguayan Matto Grosso Indian tribes and that these decoctions reduced the fertility in adult female rats of proven fertility, subsequent studies could not reproduce their results. Moreover, [25] reported that the use of Stevia as a contraceptive has never been confirmed [19, 26] and in a field study made throughout Paraguay not any local use of Stevia as a contraceptive could be found. Inquiries were made in Asuncion, Concepcion, Pedro Juan Caballero, and in Cerro Kuatia. In the last mentioned location, interviews were conducted with members of the native Indian group, Pay Tavy Tera, as well as other populations that have recently settled in the area. 

Himalayas in India. The roots of this plant are known as Bish and were used by the native Indians for medicinal purposes. Later, this alkaloid was isolated from the roots of A. spictatum Stapf (39). Czechoslovakian (40) and Indian (41) workers reexamined the alkaloidal constituents of A. ferox and have reported the isolation of pseudaconitine along with other known and uncharacterized alkaloids. Recently, pseudaconitine was isolated (42) as a minor constituent of A. falconeri Stapf. The structure of pseudaconitine (20) was assigned earlier and is covered in detail in the last review (3) in this series. Because pseudaconitine has been chemically correlated with delphinine, the structure of this alkaloid must now be revised to 21. 

EXTENSIONS AND COMMENTARY Mescaline is one of the oldest psychedelics known to man. It is the major active component of the small dumpling cactus known as Peyote. It grows wild in the Southwestern United States and in Northern Mexico, and has been used as an intimate component of a number of religious traditions amongst the native Indians of these areas. The cactus has the botanical name of Lophophora williamsii or Anhalonium lewinii and is immediately recognizable by its small round shape and the appearance of tufts of soft fuzz in place of the more conventional spines. The dried plant material has been classically used with... 

Phantasmal poison frog (Epipedobates tricolor) The adventurer Captain Charles Stuart Cochrane reported for the first time in 1823 that the natives ("Indians") in the rain-forests of Colombia obtained dart poisons from small brightly coloured frogs. 

For centuries, the native Indians in Ecuador and Colombia used besides curare [546] from Strychnos toxifera and Chondrodendron tomentosum also the skin secretion of several dart-poison frogs of the genus PhyUobates and Dendrobates to tip the darts of their blowpipes for hunting (Fig. 5.212). 

The native Indian workers of Esmeralda were metallurgists of marked ability they were the only people who manufectured platinum jewelry. In our collection [in the University Museum] will be seen objects of pure platinum, objects with a platinum background set with tiny balls of gold used to form a border, and objects with one side platinum and the other gold. 

Gibbs, and the genuine patchouli, as its var. stw/ois, and it was not until 1896 that it was shown that the true patchouli (Pogostemon patchouli Pellet.) was a distinct species and a native of the Philippine Islands. The native Indian patchouli was then referred back again to Pogostemon Heyneanus Wall. 

---