414 Mr. Schomburgk on the Indian Arrow Poison, 



fatal effect, and that it contained no animal principle, were 

 doubted. It became evident that the more mysterious ac- 

 counts of former authors had taken too firm a root to give 

 my plain tale a chance of finding credit. It was certainly 

 true I had not been present at the time of preparation, and 

 although in my own mind I doubted not the Indian's informa- 

 tion, I could not implant that faith into others. During our 

 stay in Pirara, a Macusi village on the classical soil of 

 Raleigh's and Keymis's El Dorado, I ascertained that an 

 Indian lived in the vicinity, who was far-famed for the pre- 

 paration of the Urari poison. I induced him by presents of 

 some consideration to prepare it in my presence, and he pro- 

 mised to do so. I accompanied him for that purpose to the 

 Canuku mountains, partly with the object of being present at 

 the gathering of the chief ingredient, and partly to see whether 

 I might be fortunate enough to find the plant which is called 

 Urari in blossom. In the latter object I was disappointed : 

 I found it again, as during my first visit, fruit-bearing. 



The mountain Ilamickipang had been named as the place 

 nearest to Pirara where the plant grew, being about eighteen 

 miles distant ?n a south-eastern direction from the spot where 

 we collected it in 1835. We ascended the mountain for 

 about 1500 feet, and though we observed numerous Urari 

 plants at a less height, our sapient chemist, after having tried 

 different pieces of the stem, pronounced it not to be in a state 

 fit for preparation. After we had reached a saddle of the 

 mountain, a spot was selected, where, with the assistance of 

 our Indians, we built a hut of palm-leaves, and from hence 

 short excursions in different directions were undertaken, to 

 collect such plants as possessed the sap in a high degree. 

 They were found generally in rocky places or glens, among 

 heaped-up boulders of granite, places well selected by a plant 

 which is so fatal in its effects. The branches and ligneous 

 stems, which were in thickness less than the human wrist, 

 were chosen and carried into the hut, where they were scraped, 

 and the bark was preserved in small baskets made for that 

 purpose. Three such baskets were filled, when our chemist 

 considered that he had enough, and th^e baskets were delivered 

 up to me, and we returned to Pirara. The manufacturing of 

 the poison was however delayed for some days, for the object, 

 as I was told by the chemist, of observing previously a rigid 

 fast, in order to prepare himself for the important business. 

 Meanwhile Kanaima, an influential Macusi chief from the 

 Rupununi, arrived on a visit in Pirara, and for what purpose 

 I know not : it is enough to state, that he knew how to pre- 

 vail so far upon the manufacturer of the poison that he re- 



