416 Mr. Schomburgk on the Indian Arrow Poison, 



church in that village, to try if he could induce any of the 

 famed poison-makers to boil it in his presence ; and although, 

 on my return to Pirara in 1839, I had at last an opportunity 

 of witnessing the preparation of the poison by my former re- 

 creant Macusi, I nevertheless prefer inserting here Mr. Yond's 

 letter, as it is an additional evidence for henceforth rejecting 

 " snake-teeth, stinging ants," etc. as component parts of the 

 Urari poison. 



" To Robert H. Schomburgk, Esq. 



"Pirara, 4th October, 1838. 

 " My Dear Sir, 



" Knowing as I do that your object in visiting these wilds is that 

 of making general research, for the information and benefit of society 

 at large, I take the present opportunity of presenting you with the 

 promised statement of the manner how, and the ingredients from 

 which, the much-famed Urary poison is made, of which there has 

 been so much conjecture and erroneous accounts given in time past. 



" Since the time that I have come to reside amongst the Macusi 

 Indians as missionary, curiosity has led me to go to a little expense 

 in procuring one of the Indians from the Canuku mountains, who is 

 noted for his being able to make powerful poison, whom I prevailed 

 upon to boil a quantity before me at the Mission House. I was 

 fortunate enough in purchasing a quake or basket of Urary bark, as 

 also a quantity of Arimaru, Tarireng, and Tararemu ; the rest fr'f 

 Urary-maker procured in the space of three days. The ingredients 

 being already procured, the next movement in course was the erect- 

 ing of my tent, and enclosing three parts of it round with palm- 

 leaves, which for the time being was called the Indians' Urary House. 

 This temporary house was erected in the front enclosure, opposite 

 the door, that I might see every movement. A buck-pot*, that would 

 hold a little more than a gallon, and that had never been used, was 

 then brought, as also four shallow plates : the first was to boil the 

 ingredients in, and the others to expose the Urary liquid to the sun 

 when boiled, in order to reduce it to a jelly. 



" One large gooby f, stopped at the mouth or stall- end with loose 

 cotton, was opened at the head-end sufficiently wide for admitting 

 the contents of the Urary-pot through when poured out. A second 

 small gooby was made, in the shape of a funnel, and stopped with 

 silk grass, in order to pour the Urary through when moving it from 

 one drying-plate to the other, that the scum which rises on the top 

 during the time of drying might be kept back. The last receptacle 

 is a small calabash :|:, that will hold half a pint, into which the whole 



* The earthen pots in which the Indians prepare their food, and which 

 they manufacture themseh'es, are called in the colony buck -pots, buck being 

 among the colonists a cognomen for Indian. — S. 



f Gooby, the fruit of a species of pumpkin, which, after having been 

 scoured out, is used in lieu of a flask. — S. 



X The bowls prepared of the fruit of the Cresceniia ciijefe, or calabash- 

 tree. — S. 



