and the Plant from which it is ewtr acted, 419 



kills that the Urary must be strong, because of its being hard to kill, 

 having but little blood. I was at a loss to know how he would catch 

 such a swift little creature in so awkward a spot, and how he would 

 find them at all ; but the mystery soon was revealed, for, having taken 

 a torch in his hand, he set fire to the dry grass, which spread abroad 

 and made the poor Tapooyas fly from their retreat, to hide in some 

 distant tuft of grass or brushwood, which Mulatto keenly observed, 

 and slily pounced upon and secured them. He then took a small 

 piece of wood, iabout the thickness of a stocking-needle, poisoned it 

 at the pointed end with a little of the new-made Urary, and then 

 stuck it in one of the hind legs of the lizard. He then let it loose, 

 when it ran a few yards ; then, panting, lay down and died. A 

 second and third he pierced in the tail, u])on which it had much the 

 same effect; they both died in a few minutes. A rat was then 

 brought in by one of the Indians, and its thigh was slightly pierced 

 with a needle-like arrow, which had such an effect upon the poor 

 creature as scarcely to allow it to move ten feet before it lay down 

 and expired. I then proposed, as I was about having a fowl killed 

 for dinner, to have it slightly touched with Urary on the leg : to this 

 Mulatto made some objection, saying he never tried his Urary on 

 fowls, and to do so would spoil the whole ; but as I pressed it, he 

 said, * Then let it be done.' Mulatto then made a small arrow on 

 purpose, drying it a little over the fire ; for, said he, ' the Urary is 

 yet soft, and it will strip off from the arrow as soon as it comes in 

 contact with the skin ; but if it be dried it will not, and will get to 

 the blood.' The noble cock was then shot in the thigh, when it 

 ran for ten or twelve yards, then walked across the road, of twenty 

 yards wide, and lay down in the grass, when its head fell as though 

 its neck had been broken, and he soon after died. 



•' I wished to have tried the effects of the Urary on a deer, or 

 some other wild animal, but have not yet had an opportunity ; how- 

 ever I doubt not, from what I have seen, of its being sufficiently 

 strong to destroy any animal with which we are acquainted in a 

 short time. Having heard in time past that snake-teeth were a ne- 

 cessary ingredient of the Urary, I asked Mulatto whether they were 

 not (happening to have a few by me that had been taken from the 

 head of a large rattle-snake that had been taken a few days before, 

 which were at his service), but he said they were not at all necessary, 

 that he never used them, nor would they assist much in making the 

 Urary strong, since the Urary poison did not depend either upon 

 them or the stinging-ant, and that for himself he used neither. 

 Mulatto did not fail to act according to their superstitions, in abs- 

 taining from meats ; also in requesting me not to eat or drink sugar 

 when I came to see him*, and that no person or woman especially 

 might come near the Urary-house ; and even on the Lord's day 

 would he not altogether cease to boil the Urary, but kept a few 

 sparks alive under the pot, notwithstanding my request that he should 

 do nothing during the sabbath. He would not as usual come into 



* This superstition no doubt arises from their believing sugar to be an 

 antidote to the Urari poison. — S. 



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