WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 199 



that he had not room to move his head to bite it. 

 This was the only position I could have held him 

 in with safety and effect. To do so, it only re- 

 quired a little resolution and coolness. I then 

 took a small piece of stick in the other hand, and 

 pressed it against the fang, which is invariably 

 in the upper jaw. Towards the point of the fang, 

 there is a little oblong aperture on the convex side 

 of it. Through this, there is a communication 

 down the fang to the root, at which lies a little 

 bag containing the poison. Now, when the point 

 of the fang is pressed, the root of the fang also 

 presses against the bag, and sends up a portion 

 of the poison therein contained. Thus, when I 

 applied a piece of stick to the point of the fang, 

 there came out of the hole a liquor thick and yel- 

 low, like strong camomile tea. This was the poi- 

 son which is so dreadful in its effects, as to render 

 the labarri snake one of the most poisonous in the 

 forests of Guiana. I once caught a fine labarri, 

 and made it bite itself. I forced the poisonous 

 fang into its belly. In a few minutes I thought 

 it was going to die, for it appeared dull and heavy. 

 However, in half an hour's time, he was as brisk 

 and vigorous as ever, and in the course of the 

 day showed no symptoms of being affected. Is 

 then the life of the snake proof against its own 

 poison? This subject is not unworthy of the con- 

 sideration of the naturalist. 



In Guiana there is a little insect in the grass 

 and on the shrubs, which the French call Bete- 

 rouge. It is of a beautiful scarlet colour, and so 

 minute, that you must bring your eye close to it 

 before you can perceive it. It is most numerous 



