WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 129 



and the smaller ones were killed with the hope of sub- 

 stantiating that which has commonly been supposed to be 

 an antidote. 



It makes a pitying heart ache to see a poor creature in 

 distress and pain ; and too often has the compassionate 

 traveller occasion to heave a sigh as he journeys on. 

 However, here, though the kind-hearted will be sorry to 

 read of an unoffending animal doomed to death, in order 

 to satisfy a doubt, still it will be a relief to know that the 

 victim was not tortured. The wourali-poison destroys 

 life's action so gently, that the victim appears to be in no 

 pain whatever; and probably, were the truth known, it 

 feels none, saving the momentary smart at the time the 

 arrow enters. 



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 about for 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 



K 



