2 
558 Mr. ScHomBurGK’s Account of the Curata, 
they came, increased their interest; and one of my first questions on arriving 
at a settlement of Indians which I had not previously visited, was, whether they 
knew from whence were obtained these reeds, so different in structure from 
all known Bambuseæ. I ascertained at last that the Macusis received them 
from the Arecunas, but that they did not grow in the country of that tribe; 
on the contrary, the Arecunas undertook journeys of several months duration 
to procure them from another tribe, who lived still further westward. 
During the latter part of my third expedition in the interior of Guiana, I 
likewise visited these Arecunas, who inhabit the northern tributaries of the 
Orinoco, and from whom the Macusis receive their reeds by barter; and 
here I received certain information that the plant which produced the reed 
grew in the country of the Guinau and Maiongcong Indians near the head- 
waters of the Orinoco. 
We saw among the Arecunas a large number of these reeds, which they |. 
were manufacturing into blowpipes. The reed being so valuable, and so liable 
to destruction if carried openly through the woods, the Indian puts it for pro- 
tection into the slender trunk of a palm (a species of Kunthia?), which he 
simply hollows out for the purpose. Being aware that the tube thus manufac- 
tured is in constant demand by the other tribes, he does not leave the regions 
which he inhabits to offer his ware for sale, but patiently awaits the visits of 
the Macusi, skilled in manufacturing the Urari poison, who brings him that 
deadly preparation, and exchanges it against these reeds or the ready-finished 
blowpipe. By this mutual exchange, they are each rendered masters of life 
and death over the feathered game; for, armed with his blowpipe, the wily 
huntsman gradually steals nearer and nearer to his victim, and launches his 
weapon of death, which seldom fails of its deadly aim, before the unconscious 
bird is even aware of the approaching danger. | 
The great object of my last expedition led me to that far west. We camped 
on the 26th of January near the river Emakuni, at a settlement inhabited by 
Maiongcong Indians; and the first object which struck me on entering the 
miserable hut which served as a dwelling to the Indians, was a large bundle 
of these reeds, some of which were sixteen feet long; a circumstance which 
naturally induced the inquiry, from whence they came. The houses being 
built on elevated ground, we had an extensive view before us; at the distance of 
