and the Plant from tvhich it is contracted, 413 



which are considered to possess the poisonous principle in 

 the highest degree. The stem of the plant is therefore cut 

 into pieces about three feet in length, of which the bark is 

 stripped, and after having been pounded it is steeped in water, 

 for which purpose a new earthen vessel is used ; here they 

 allow it to renriain for some time, well covered, until the water 

 is of a yellowish colour, when it is filtered through a funnel- 

 shaped matappa lined with plantain-leaves. Several other 

 plants have been meanwhile procured, and after their juice 

 has been extracted in a similar manner, this extract is kept 

 ready to be added to the former at the moment it has been 

 concentrated on a slow fire to the consistency of a syrup. 

 The addition of that juice gives a darker colour to the Urari, 

 which, from the time of its becoming concentrated, has the 

 appearance of tar : it is now put into small calabashes, which 

 are covered with leaves to prevent the poison from coming in 

 immediate contact with the air. The Indians pretend, that if 

 it be well preserved it will keep its strength for a couple of 

 years. If it is to be used, the quantity required is put into 

 a separate calabash, and a little juice of the Cassada is added 

 to it to make it more pliable. I was told that the addition of 

 Cassada-water (as the expressed juice of the poisonous root of 

 the Jatropha manihot is termed) reawakens the slumbering 

 powers of the poison. After that juice has been added to it, 

 the Indian buries the calabash with the poison for a day or 

 two under ground. 



This is the unadorned account of the preparation of the 

 Urari, and the method which is followed by the Macusis at 

 and about Pirara, and the Wapisianas of the Canuku moun- 

 tains, where the plant grows. There appears to be no danger 

 whatever in the preparation, and the vapours which are dis- 

 engaged are entirely innocent ; but the circumstance that it 

 requires several days to watch the pot closely on the fire and 

 to take off the scum, etc. before it is properly concentrated, 

 as well as the superstitious customs with which the poison- 

 maker, for his own advantage, surrounds the preparation of 

 it, prevent the Indian, with his natural indolence, from 

 making it more than once or twice a year. 



I undertook in 1837 another expedition in the interior of 

 Guiana, and found opportunity to revisit the regions which, 

 in consequence of the arrow poison, had been previously of 

 interest to me. That interest had not been abated — nay, it 

 was increased. The belief continued to prevail among the 

 colonists of Demerara, that the active poison of the Urari 

 was '^ snake-teeth and stinging ants ;" and my assertions, 

 that the vegetable juice of the plant employed produced the 



