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[Datura sanguinea^ Rniz et Pav.), and Bala [Glirlcidia maculata, 

 Kimth). It is said of the Maiizanillo de playa that persons have died 

 from sleeping beneath its shade; and that its milky juice raises blis- 

 ters on the skin, which are difficult to heal. The first of these state- 

 ments must be regarded as fabulous, and the second be received with 

 a degree of modification. Some people will bear the juice upon the 

 surface of the body without being in the least affected by it; while 

 others do experience the utmost pain : the difference seeming to de- 

 pend entirely upon the state of a man's constitution. Great caution, 

 however, is required in protecting the eyes, for if the least drop enters 

 them, loss of sight, and the most acute smarting for several days, are 

 the consequence. The smoke arising from the wood produces a simi- 

 lar effect ; and I remember that, while surveying on the coast of Da- 

 rien, a whole boat's crew of H.M.S. ' Herald' was blinded from having 

 kindled a fire with the branches of this tree. Whenever the natives 

 are affected by the poison they at once wash the injured part in salt 

 water. This remedy is most efficacious, and, as the Manzanillo is 

 always confined to the edge of the ocean, of easy application. It has 

 been stated that the Indians of the Isthmus dip their arrows in the 

 juice of the Manzanilla. There are, however, various reasons for 

 doubting this assertion ; firstly, because the poison is, like that of all 

 Euphorbiaceae, extremely volatile, and however virulent when first 

 procured, soon loses its power; secondly, because its effect, even 

 when fresh, is by no means so strong as to cause the death of human 

 beings, it not even producing, as has already been stated, the slightest 

 injury on some constitutions. We may, therefore, consider the state- 

 ment as an inaccuracy, and rather suppose that the Indians, like those 

 of Guyana, obtain their poison from the Strychnos toxifera, Blh., and 

 S. cogens, Bth., two plants very common throughout Panama and 

 Darien. The fruit of the Amaucay [Thevetia neriifolia, Juss.) is also 

 considered very poisonous, but its dangerous qualities have probably 

 been over-rated. I knew a gentleman in Panama who, when a boy, 

 ate four of these fruits, without experiencing any other effect than 

 that of mere griping. The leaves of the Bala, or, as it is called, Ma- 

 dera negra [Gliricidia maculaia, Klh.), are used to poison rats. The 

 Florispondio {Datura sanguinea, Ruiz et Pav.) appears to have 

 played, and still continues to play, a prominent part in the supersti- 

 tion of tropical America. The Indians of Darien, as well as those of 

 Choco, prepare from its seeds a decoction, which is given to their 

 children to produce a state of excitement in which they are supposed 

 to possess the power of discovering gold. In any place where the 



