WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 75 



story points out the necessity of a cautious ex- 

 amination. 



One day, on asking an Indian if he thought the 

 poison would kill a man, he replied, that they al- 

 ways go to battle with it; that he was standing 

 by when an Indian was shot with a poisoned ar- 

 row, and that he expired almost immediately. Not 

 wishing to dispute this apparently satisfactory 

 information, the subject was dropped. However, 

 about an hour after, having purposely asked him 

 in what part of the body the said Indian was 

 wounded, he answered without hesitation, that the 

 arrow entered betwixt his shoulders, and passed 

 quite through his heart. Was it the weapon, or 

 the strength of the poison, that brought on im- 

 mediate dissolution in this case? Of course the 

 weapon. 



The second have been misled by disappoint- 

 ment, caused by neglect in keeping the poisoned 

 arrows, or by not knowing how to use them, or by 

 trying inferior poison. If the arrows are not kept 

 dry, the poison loses its strength ; and in wet or 

 damp weather it turns mouldy, and becomes quite 

 soft. In shooting an arrow in this state, upon 

 examining the place where it has entered, it will 

 be observed that, though the arrow has penetrated 

 deep into the flesh, still by far the greatest part 

 of the poison has shrunk back, and thus, instead 

 of entering with the arrow, it has remained col- 

 lected at the mouth of the wound. In this case the 

 arrow might as well have not been poisoned. Prob- 

 ably, it was to this that a gentleman, some time 

 ago, owed his disappointment, when he tried the 

 poison on a horse in the town of Stabroek, the 



