DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 133 



daiiffer, as thev seem otherwise harmless animals. The 

 traveller points out the spot where he feels the creature 

 to one of his companions, who, if it be a Coya, blows it 

 away. If this account does not exaggerate the deleteri- 

 ous quality of the juices of this insect, it is the most veno- 

 mous animal that is known ; for he describes it as much 

 smaller than a bug. The onl}' remedy to which the na- 

 tives have recourse for preventing the ill effects arising 

 from its venom is, on the first appearance of the swelling, 

 to swing the patient over the flame of straw or long 

 grass, which they do with great dexterity : after this ope- 

 ration he is reckoned to be out of danger^. — The poi- 

 soned arrows which Indians employ against their enemies 

 have been long celebrated. The Coya may, in the west- 

 ern world, have furnished the poison for this purpose. 

 An author quoted in Lesser tells us that an ant as big as 

 a bee is sometimes used, and that the wound inflicted 

 by weapons tinctured with their venom is incurable. Pat- 

 terson also gives a recipe by which the natives of the 

 southern extremity of Africa prepare what they reckon 

 the most effectual poison for the point of their arrows. 

 They mix the juice of a species of Euphorbia, and a 

 caterpillar that feeds on a kind of sumach [Rhis, L.), 

 and when the mixture is dried it is fit for use^. 



* Ulloa's Voyage, b. vi. c. 3. Hamilton {Travels in Colombia, as 

 quoted in the Literary Gazette, April 38, 1827.) also mentions a 

 spider called the Cai/a, rather large, found in the bi'oken ground and 

 among the rocks, from the body of which a poison so active is emit- 

 ted, that men and mules have died in an hour or two after the ve- 

 nomous moisture had fallen on them. This is evidently the same in- 

 sect with that mentioned by UUoa, and confirms the above account 

 of its venomous effects. 



•> Waterton {Wanderings in S. America, o'^.) gives the recipe by 

 which the Macausho Indians prepare the poison, in which they dip 



