418 Mr. Schomburgk on the Indian Arrow Poison, 



" Of these, howevei", he had to make two separate boilings, on 

 account of his pot being too small to contain the quantity of bark 

 necessary at once, for each of which he took a day, — for the first 

 almost the whole of Friday, and the second the greater part of Sa- 

 turday. The Urary was the first ingredient that was put in the pot, 

 and the rest he every now and then kept adding by little and little, 

 until the whole was used. He kept but a slow fire during the whole 

 time of cooking, just suflicient to keep the liquid in a simmering 

 state, which seemed to suck the virtue out of the bark well. Upon 

 each additional handful of bark that he put in the pot during the 

 time of cooking, he took special care to blow, informing me that that 

 would give virtue to the Urary and make it strong. Of course I 

 did not deem that to be a proper time for giving my opinion as to 

 its real value or not, knowing that a little opposition would soon 

 make him leave his work altogether, and I should be left with 

 the ingredients unboiled, to muse over my own folly ; I therefore 

 told him he was welcome to do as he pleased, my only desire being 

 to see everything that was done, and that the Urary should be 

 strong, or painful as they term it. The whole of these two days 

 (Friday and Saturday) had simply been to draw the poison out from 

 the mixed quantity of bark, so as to form the Urary liquid, which in 

 appearance was not unlike strong-drawn coffee. The whole liquid, 

 consisting of a gallon and a half when first drawn, by this time had 

 been reduced to about a quart, which was then poured into a gooby, 

 the head of which had been cut out, and the tail-end stopped up 

 with loose cotton, sufficiently tight to stop any thick sediment from 

 passing through, acting as a sort of strainer, through which it passed 

 into a large shallow plate and the pot which he had been using, in 

 order to be exposed to the sun. This was on Monday morning. In 

 course of two or three hours after the Urary had been exposed to 

 the sun, I observed the powerful effect which the slime from the 

 bulbous root Murarau* had in perceptibly congealing the liquid to a 

 jelly. On Tuesday Mulatto began to pour the Urary into the more 

 shallow plates, where it remained still exposed to the sun, until 

 brought, as already stated, to the consistency of thin starch, and 

 was from thence removed to the last receptacle, a small calabash, 

 capable of containing near half a pint, to which small quantity the 

 whole was brought. 



*' This process of drying continued from Monday until Thursday 

 following, when Mulatto gave it over to me. Mulatto then asked 

 me to come and see him try its strength, informing me that the first 

 creature upon which it must be tried was a Tapooya (a species of 

 lizard found amongst the grass in the savannahs) ; for if it quickly 



to belong to the Xanthoxtjlacew. It is said to have the quality of salivating 

 when taken internally, and the inhabitants of the Rio Negro and the Amazon 

 use it therefore in syphilitic complaints. 



It is remarkable that all the ingredients which the Macusis use for the 

 preparation of their poison are of an intense bitter. This may be the reason 

 that it is used as a tonic. I am however unacquainted with the plants 

 which they call Tarireng, Yakkee, and Wokarimo. — S. 



* Cissus species? — S. 



