86 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



The flesh of the game is not in the least injured 

 by the poison, nor does it appear to corrupt 

 sooner than that killed by the gun or knife. The 

 body of this fowl was kept for sixteen hours, in a 

 climate damp and rainy, and within seven degrees 

 of the equator; at the end of which time it 

 had contracted no bad smell whatever, and there 

 were no symptoms of putrefaction, saving that, 

 just round the wound, the flesh appeared some- 

 what discoloured. 



The Indian, on his return home, carefully sus- 

 pends his blow-pipe from the top of his spiral 

 roof; seldom placing it in an oblique position, 

 lest it should receive a cast. 



Here let the blow-pipe remain suspended, while 

 you take a view of the arms which are made to 

 slay the larger beasts of the forest. 



When the Indian intends to chase the peccari, 

 or surprise the deer, or rouse the tapir from his 

 marshy retreat, he carries his bow and arrows, 

 which are very different from the weapons al- 

 ready described. 



The bow is generally from six to seven feet 

 long, and strung with a cord, spun out of the silk- 

 grass. The forests of Guiana furnish many 

 species of hard wood, tough and elastic, out of 

 which beautiful and excellent bows are formed. 



The arrows are from four to five feet in length, 

 made of a yellow reed without a knot or joint. It 

 is found in great plenty up and down throughout 

 Guiana. A piece of hard wood, about nine inches 

 long, is inserted into the end of the reed, and fas- 

 tened with cotton well waxed. A square hole, an 

 inch deep, is then made in the end of this piece of 



