LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 49 



the first to publish a good map, and it is still the best, of Guiana, 

 though it is impossible to avoid the expression of a wish that he had 

 been as candid as he was laborious. He has copied whole passages 

 from the " Wanderings," with no other change than the transforma- 

 tion of an interesting into a heavy style, and notwithstanding all his 

 obligations to Waterton, he has never once mentioned him in his 

 books with respect. 



Waterton attained his main object. He penetrated the mystery 

 of the wourali poison, and obtained a supply of it in its strongest 

 form. He thus describes its preparation : * 



" A day or two before the Macoushi Indian prepares his poison, 

 he goes into the forest in quest of the ingredients. A vine grows in 

 these wilds which is called wourali. It is from this that the poison 

 takes its name, and it is the principal ingredient. When he has 

 procured enough of this, he digs up a root of a very bitter taste, 

 ties them together, and then looks for about two kinds of bulbous 

 plants, which contain a green and glutinous juice. He fills a little 

 quake which he carries on his back with the stalks of these ; and lastly, 

 ranges up and down till he finds two species of ants. One of them 

 is very large and black, and so venomous that its sting produces a 

 fever ; it is most commonly to be met with on the ground. The 

 other is a little red ant which stings like a nettle, and generally has 

 its nest under the leaf of a shrub. After obtaining these, he has no 

 more need to range the forest. A quantity of the strongest Indian 

 pepper is used ; but this he has already planted round his hut. The 

 pounded fangs of the labarri snake, and those of the counacouchi, 

 are likewise added. These he commonly has in store, for when he 

 kills a snake, he generally extracts the fangs and keeps them by him. 



" Having thus found the necessary ingredients, he scrapes the 

 wourali vine and bitter root into thin shavings, and puts them into a 

 kind of colander made of leaves : this he holds over an earthen pot, 

 and pours water on the shavings : the liquor which comes through has 

 the appearance of coffee. When a sufficient quantity has been pro- 

 cured, the shavings are thrown aside. He then bruises the bulbous 

 Ftalks, and squeezes a proportionate quantity of their juice through 

 * " Wanderings." 



D 



