Richard Spruce (1817-1893)

• In 1852 discovered that the

Tukano Indians of the Vaupés
River used a potion called
caapi made from a vine that he
identified and named as
Banisteria caapi.
• In 1854 he observed that
itinerant Guahibo Indians in
the Orinoco River basin chew
the dried stem of caapi.
• In 1859 in the Equadorean
foothills of the Andes
encountered the Zaparo
Indians use of ayahuasca.
Richard Spruce (1817-1893)
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff (1912-1994)
Recognizing that the individual must
pass from one dimension of existence
-or cosmic plane- to another to
communicate with the spiritual or
invisible world, the Tukanos take caapi
to effect this transport. The trip
represents to them the process of birth
and breaking through the wall that
separates the two cosmic planes and
signifies, according to anthropological
studies, the rupture of the placenta.
Drinking caapi is often interpreted as
returning to the "cosmic uterus“. Since
they insist that they sometimes come
to know death while under the
influence of the drug, the Tukanos
consider the return to the cosmic
uterus as an anticipation of death
which permits contact with the divinity
or visitation with the source and origin
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff (1912-1994)
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff (1912-1994)
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff (1912-1994)
Irving Goldman (1911-2002)

Published in 1963, based

on fieldwork in 1939-1940
in the Cuduaiarí river.
Irving Goldman (1911-2002)
 Rafael Karsten (1879-1956)

Karsten worked in Ecuador 1916-1918, and 1928-1929.

Rafael Karsten (1879-1956)
Rafael Karsten (1879-1956)
Shuars
William Burroughs (1914 -1997)