410 Mr. Schomburgk on the Indian Arrow Poison, 



whom we had met a few weeks ago in the valley, that he him- 

 self knew how to prepare the poison, and that he would wil- 

 lingly accompany our guide and bring the plant for our in- 

 spection. 



This proposal did not agree with my plans. I was anxious 

 to see the plant in its native growth, and when we gave him 

 to understand that it was our intention to accompany him, he 

 attempted by signs to make us desist from going with him. 

 He told us that the path was very bad, and that it was so far 

 that we could not reach the place till afternoon, and that we 

 would have to sleep on the road ; he repeated the same story 

 in the morning, and as he observed that we were determined 

 to insist on our first plan, he made a sour face and did not 

 speak for a length of time. Whether he thought that we were 

 not able to stand the fatigues, or whether he wished us not to 

 learn the place where the plant grew, I know not: enough 

 of his stories — we found the first only true ; the path was 

 wretched ; all traces of it were frequently lost, and an Indian 

 only could have guided us ; and he directed his course mostly 

 by broken branches, or marks cut in the trees, sometimes 

 standing still for some moments to consider in which direction 

 to turn. 



Our path was over '^ hill and dale,'^ mostly in a N.N.W. 

 and N.W. direction. It became every moment wilder : we 

 had to cross several mountain-streams, which flowed in deep 

 beds, precipitating at their banks a ferruginous matter ; 

 underbush became scarce ; it appeared as if Nature here de- 

 lighted only in gigantic forms. Our Indians thought they 

 had mistaken the track ; but as we arrived at a stream which 

 ran rapidly over the sloping ground, exhibiting granitic shelves, 

 we observed that several paths united ; and crossing the brook 

 our guides stopped, and pointing to a ligneous twiner which 

 wound itself snake-like from tree to tree, they called out 

 " Urari,^^ the name of the plant in the tongue of our guides*. 



* Sir Walter Raleigh, in his table of names, rivers, etc. discovered in his 

 second Guiana Voyage (Hakeluyt's Voyages, ii. 692), mentions even then, 

 among the poisons used by the Indians of the Orinoco, the Ourari; and by 

 that name it is almost exclusively called by the Indians of Guiana. The 

 Caribs in pronouncing the r frequently exchange this letter vjrith /, and it may 

 thus have happened that the name Wurali has crept in. The Macusis, who 

 are acknowledged to be the best manufacturers of this remarkable substance, 

 call it decidedly Urari. The same name it bears among the Tarumas, Wa- 

 pisianas, Aricunas, Woyawais, Atorais, and various other tribes of the in- 

 terior whom I have visited. The substitution of the corrupted name Wou- 

 rali is therefore, to say the least of it, gratuitous, and ought to be rejected. 

 Von Martius and Von Spix, in their ' Travels in Brazil,' observe that, during 

 their exploring tours up the Amazon, Yiipura, Rio Negro, etc., they heard 

 it pronounced Urari, but never Wurali. (See lleise in Brasilien Miinchen, 



