Cubeo

The destination was a Cubeo settlement two hours above the mouth of the affluent and close to a trail that led to the savannah of Guranjudá.

One River Wade Davis 1996

You can give my regards to the Monsignor and then find one of the Cubeo boys to take you up the Vaupés.

One River Wade Davis 1996

The motorista, a young Cubeo named Ernesto; assured me that at the house of his sister there would be plenty of coca and that it would be possible to collect specimens and observe the preparation.

One River Wade Davis 1996

With his hair cut short and parted on one side, his khaki trousers and white short-sleeved shirt open at the neck, he reminded me of photographs Schultes had taken among the Cubeo in the early 1950s.

One River Wade Davis 1996

Along the banks of its major affluents, the Papurí and Kuduyarí, live the Desana and Cubeo.

One River Wade Davis 1996

I realized this as I walked through the field, making a series of collections and listening as Noel described the categories recognized by the Cubeo.

One River Wade Davis 1996

But like most mestizo traders and rubber tappers of the Vaupés, he had adopted native ways, including the use of coca, or patu as he called it in Cubeo.

One River Wade Davis 1996

The Cubeo of the Kuduyarí and Kubiyú have three exogamous patrilineages, all speaking the same tongue.

One River Wade Davis 1996

Over the next months he was able to document the preparation of the snuff among the Cubeo and Tukano on the Vaupés, the Barasana and Makuna on the Piraparaná, and the Kuripakos far to the north on the Río Guainía.

One River Wade Davis 1996

Ernesto, meanwhile, carefully swept a portion of the dirt floor and fired a large pile of dry cecropia leaves, two varieties known in Cubeo as juakubu and opodokabú.

One River Wade Davis 1996