52 Remarks on the Worari and Sirvatan. 



who, as I should suppose, have had opportunities of better 

 information, should have the credulity to notice or respect 

 such fictions. 



The following extract from a letter of Mr. J. Forsyth will 

 throw further light on the subject : — 



11 I received your letter of the 30th ult. requesting a speci- 

 men of the worari vine. I am sorry it is not at present in 

 flower ; but I send you a small branch of it, and two other 

 vines, called worarybally and courampoey, which the Indians 

 use as auxiliaries to strengthen the former. You will also 

 receive two small roots of the worari vine, which will grow if 

 immediately planted ; it will require a great proportion of sand 

 mixed with the earth it is planted in, as it is found growing on 

 sand hills. 



" The mode of preparing the poison is as follows : — The 

 inner bark or rind of the root (for it is the root only that is 

 used) is scraped off into some vessel. The worarybally root 

 undergoes the same process ; but it is the vine itself of the 

 courampoey that is used. To these, mixed together and well 

 boiled down with some water, the Indians add some peppers, 

 and further boil the whole mass to a thick syrup. 



M This account of the process, I have had from the Indians; 

 but they are to bring some of these roots, &c, and make the 

 poison in my presence. I shall, therefore, have it in my 

 power, I hope, hereafter, to give you a more accurate descrip- 

 tion of this process." 



If such a thing does in reality exist in nature as a direct 

 sedative, in the strictest sense of the term, I should imagine it 

 to be this extraordinary vegetable extract. Its operation on 

 the animal frame is most mysterious. It extinguishes the 

 vital spark without a pang or a struggle, if prepared without 

 any other substance being added, for the most efficient poison 

 is prepared from the worari vine alone. The sensation and 

 effect it produces are extremely analogous to those which arise 

 from excessive bleeding ; the animal, under its influence, sink- 

 ing from existence in the most placid swoon. 



On the Parima, amongst the tribes the most celebrated for 

 the use of the worari, I was told, that salt and sugar were consi- 

 dered as the best antidotes to this poison. The same was stated 



