a PrtfrJ-vCitl'je fro7n the Bite of Serpents. ^J 



utifrtrtiinate Indians and negroes, who traverfe the wooda 

 almoft alwavs barefooted, to learch out the molt efficacious 

 mucdies tor the dil'agreeal'jlc cffeAs produced by the bite of 

 thcie animals. Of the remedies hitherto difcovered, none is 

 equal to the juice of a plantof the creeping kind called t'ejuca 

 du gr/iicG ; for it not only cures the maladies arifing from 

 the bite of ferpents, but prcfervcs from ihefc cflcfts thofe who 

 have drunk of it before they are bitten ; fo that the negroes 

 and Indians acquainted with this ]ilant, lay hold, with their 

 naked hands, of the moft venomous ferpents without fuftain- 

 Jng anv injury from them. This knowledge, of which they 

 formerlv made a great mvltery,. gave 'them much importance 

 in the countrv ; and there is no doubt that they gained a 

 great deal of monev, both from thofe who were bitten by 

 f'.'rpents, and from thofe who were defirous, through curiofity, 

 to fee them handle thefc danoerous animals. 



Being born in the kingdom of Santa- Fe, belonging to 

 Souih America, I had often heard the inhabitants boalii ig- 

 of the great ability of thefe negroes, whom my countrymen 

 call empirics. But as in the capital, where I was educated, 

 which lies in a cold diftri6t, there are no venomous ferpents, 

 I had no opportunity of feeing any till the year 1788, when, 

 being at Waro;crita, I heard of a {lave who had a great re- 

 putation as beuig invulnpral)le to ferpents^ and who belonged 

 to a gentleman of that place. As I was refolved to examine 

 him mvfelf, I begged his martcr to fend for liim, with a fuf- 

 ticient provifion of ferpents ; which he readily confented 

 to do. 



On the 3Cth of May, the fame year, the negro came to 

 the houfe where I refided with one of the molt venomous 

 ferpents of the countrv, which he had put into a calabafh ; 

 a kind of vellel employed by thefe people for the fame pur- 

 pofes as bottles are employed in Kurope. Having informed 

 him that f was defirous of fceiui; a fiK'cimen of his talent?, 

 he replied that he was ready to gratify mv curiofitv, and, 

 taking the ferpent from the calabafh, handled it with (b 

 much confidence and compofure, that 1 imngined he had 

 previoufly deprived it of its tcjlh that contained the poifon. 

 1 therefore caiifrd him to open its n)outh : but I faw that it 

 Hill liad its teeih ; and was convinced that the negro poflcfled 

 fomc fecret for loothing it, for it appeared as tame and harm- 

 lefs as the molt iiUKcint animal could have been. After a 

 long converfatiou with the negro, of whom [ afked feveral 

 queftions, to which he gave ihc molt pertineiit anfwers, I 

 i'^fuin'.c'd him how much I Ihould be gratified if I could bu 

 t'nubltd lu handle l'crpeut.<i with tlic fame fecuniy; unJ^ find- 

 C 3 ' ing 



