52 WANDERINGS IN 



FIRST 

 JOURNEY. 



of the Rio Negro are aware of this, and come to 

 the Macoushi country to purchase it. 



its effects. Much has been said concerning this fatal and 

 extraordinary poison. Some have affirmed that 

 its effects are almost instantaneous, provided the 

 minutest particle of it mixes with the blood ; and 

 others again have maintained that it is not strong 

 enough to kill an animal of the size and strength 

 of a man. The first have erred by lending a 

 too willing ear to the marvellous, and believing 

 assertions without sufficient proof. The following 

 short story points out the necessity of a cautious 

 examination. 



Anecdote. One day, on asking an Indian if he thought the 

 poison would kill a man, he replied, that they 

 always go to battle with it ; that he was standing 

 by when an Indian was shot with a poisoned 

 arrow, and that he expired almost immediately. 

 Not wishing to dispute this apparently satisfactory 

 information, the subject was dropped. However, 

 about an hour after, having purposely asked him 

 in what part of the body the said Indian was 

 wounded, he answered without hesitation, that 

 the arrow entered betwixt his shoulders, and 

 passed quite through his heart. Was it the 

 weapon, or the strength of the poison, that 

 brought on immediate dissolution in this case? 

 Of course the weapon. 



The second have been misled by disappoint- 

 ment, caused by neglect in keeping the poisoned 



