Pre-Colombian Jamaica: Caribbean Archeology and Ethnohistory

60 / Chapter 4.
processed into balls or cakes and used to color oil or food. In addition, it served
as a source of red body paint, which provided protection against insects, but
also had a ritual significance both in the ball game and in war (Vega 2001).
Some tree fruits had uses that were not connected with food as such, for example
the calabash tree (Crescentia cujete) (Spanish higüera), which provided
containers. According to Vega, these containers were used among other things
in connection with second burials. The leaves of the wild plantain (Heliconia
caribaea) were used for thatch and the stems for making baskets called “habas”
(Vega 1996). The balsam fig (Clusia rosea) (Spanish copey) produces a latex that
was used to make the balls used in the ball game (Vega 2001). The physic nut
( Jatropha curcas or multifida) was used as a purgative. Lignum vitae (Guaiacum
officinale) (Taíno guayacán), quite apart from its use in woodworking, was
reputed to be a cure for syphilis (Stoudemire 1959). Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)
was another important offering of the New World to the Old (Senior
2003). Jimson weed (Datura stramonium) was no doubt present, but the most
important hallucinogen was what the Taínos called cohoba. This has commonly
been identified with Piptadenia peregrina, now Anadenanthera peregrina (Saunders
and Gray 1996:note 2). “To make snuff, the cohoba seeds would be dried
and crushed in a mortar and mixed with lime” (Senior 2003).
Finally, it should be noted that, apart from lignum vitae, other trees were
commonly used for woodworking and construction purposes, including mahogany
(Swietenia mahagoni) and the silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra), referred
to by the Taínos as “the dwelling place of spirits” (guasina) (Senior 2003).
All in all therefore the “settlement vegetation” of the pre- Columbian inhabitants
of Jamaica was not lacking in useful products.