tetrodotoxin, in their skin, liver, ovaries and intestines (Halstead 

 1978). Toxin levels within the species of Diodon vary, leading 

 some investigators to believe that the fish serve as transvectors of 

 the tetrodotoxin (Hashimoto 1979, Halstead 1978). Members of 

 the genus Sphoeroides are known to be particularly virulent. 



1 he four sun-dried ingredients are placed on hot coals, along 

 with fresh specimens of two lizards, Ameiva chrysolaema Cope 

 and Leiocephalus schreibersi Gravenhorst, and several pieces of 

 human bone. Neither species of lizard is known to be toxic, but 

 Ameiva dorsalis, a related species from Dominica, is said by 

 natives to make the hair fall out and the skin turn green. Skinned 

 and gutted, the lizard may be eaten but a Dominican folktale 

 cautions, "if the ground lizard were good to eat, it would not be so 

 common." A species in the related genus, Cnemiedopholus, the 

 Florida bluctail, causes, when ingested, loss of balance in domes- 

 tic cats (Lasell, pers. comm.). 



All six animal ingredients are roasted to a soft oily consistency 

 and then placed on a wooden mortar to be ground with the burnt 

 human remains. At this stage in the preparation, 10 fruits of 

 Mucuna pruriens (L.)DC, a leguminous liana known as thepo/5 

 gratter, the itching pea, are placed in the mortar. The pods are 

 armed with urticating hairs that cause a maddening itch: the seeds 

 contain psychotomimetic constituents and may have hallucino- 

 genic properties (Schultes and Hofmann 1973). Approximately 

 30 seeds of a second leguminous plant, tcha-tcha, Albizzia Leb- 

 beck L., are likewise ground into the poison at this stage. 

 Although the chemistry of this species is poorly known (Raffauf 

 pers. comm.), it is of note that in West Africa, near the original 

 homeland of the Haitian ancestors, the bark of a related species, 

 Albizzia zygia is used in a drug known as ibok usiak owo. This 

 potion serves as a truth serum, "a medicine for mentioning per- 

 sons" and is probably administered as an ordeal poison (Forde 



1956). 



All the ingredients are pounded to a coarse consistency, and 

 then sifted in a metal strainer to yield the final product. 



The houngan at the locality near Gonaives distinguished three 

 stages or "degrees" to the preparation of the poison. During the 

 first approximately 20 grams of ground centipeds of the orders 



144 



