LAMAS AND TICUNAS. 267 



to be used for food. It is extremely remarkable that wherever a 

 manchineeUree grows there is found either a white wood, or a fig- 

 tree near it, the juice of either of which is an infallible antidote 

 against the poison ; salt water is no less efficacious ; and as these 

 trees grow by the sea-side, this remedy is also near at hand." 



[Pantologia. Martins. Eispaniolu. Editor. 



SECTlONVllI. 



Lamas and Ticunas. 



Mons. de la Cundamine, on his return from the voyage which he 

 made in the interior parts of South America, from the coast of the 

 South Sea to the coasts of Brazil and Guiana, by going down the 

 river of the Amazons, brought to Paris a small quantity of a very 

 dangerous poison, much in use among the Indians of Lamas*, Ti- 

 cunas, Pevas, and also among the Yameos, who all extract it by 

 fire from divers plants, especially from certain plants which the 

 French call liancs. 



Those savages are very dexterous at making low* tnbes, which 

 are the most common weapons used by the Indians for hunting. To 

 these they fit little arrows made of the palm tree, on which they put 

 a small roll of cotton, that exactly fills the bore of the tube. They 

 shoot them with their breath, and seldom or never miss the mark. 

 This simple instrument advantageously supplies the defect of fire- 

 arms among all those nations. They dip the points of these little 

 arrows as well as those of their bows, in this poison; which is so 

 active that in less than a minute, especially when fresh, it kills 

 certain animals, from which the arrow has drawn blood. 



* Lamas is a Spanish village, or little town, in Upper Peru, situated in 

 about 1 of south latitude, to the west of the river of Guallaga. The native 

 Indians of this district prepare a famous poison for poisoning arrows, different 

 from that of the Yameos, Pevas, and Ticunas, Indian nations on the borders of 

 the river of the Amazons, towards the mouth of the Napo, in 3 or 4 of ?outh 

 latitude. The poison of Ticunas is the most famous of all for its activity. 

 They say, that that of Lamas sooner looses its force, but that it is more proper 

 for certain animal* than that of Ticunas. And it is the common opinion, that 

 that of Lamas, being mixed with that of Ticunas, becomes more violent and ac- 

 tive by the mixture. Orig. 



