WEAPONS OF THE NATIVES. 115 



is the size of a common straw, and a foot in length. One 

 end is nicely wound with the light cotton of the ceiba-tree 

 so as to fill exactly the tube of the gun, and the other ex- 

 tremity is pointed and dipped in curare^ a poison distilled 

 from a vine of the forest. So powerful is this venomous 

 juice that it will kill a bird almost instantly, and the large 

 jaguar succumbs to its effects in a space of ten or fifteen 

 minutes. The flechetes, as the little missiles are called, 

 can be propelled, with a single puif of breath, through the 

 cerbatana one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet with' 

 the greatest accuracy. The quiver is twelve or fourteen 

 inches long, beautifully woven from fibres of the palm- 

 leaf, the lower part coated with a resinaceous substance 

 obtained from a forest-tree. 



Equipped with his cerbatana and quiver of poisoned 

 arrows, the Indian goes in quest of game. " Silent as 

 midnight," quaintly writes Waterton, "he steals under 

 them, and so cautiously does he tread the ground, that the 

 fallen leaves rustle not beneath his feet. His ears are 

 open to the least sound, while his eye, keen as that of the 

 lynx, is employed in finding out the game in the thickest 

 shade. Often he imitates their cry, and decoys them from 

 tree to tree, till they are within range of his tube. Then 

 taking a poison arrow from his quiver, he puts it in the 

 blow-pipe, and collects his breath for the fatal pufT. Silent 

 and swift the arrow flies, and seldom fails to pierce the 

 object at which it is sent." The flesh of game thus shot 

 is in no wise injured for eating, as the poison can be taken 

 internally with impunity. In its preparation the Indians 

 test its strength by tasting ; but care must be observed 

 that the skin of the lijis or mouth be not fractured so as 

 to bring the substance into contact with the blood. Salt 

 is an antidote for the poison, and, if timely employed, 

 will neutralize its deleterious efiects. When the Indian 

 desires to capture a monkey or bird alive, he uses a flechete 

 7 



