SOUTH AMERICA. 53 



arrows, or by not knowing how to use them, or FIRST 



* JOURNEY. 



by trying inferior poison. If the arrows are not 



kept dry, the poison loses its strength, and in wet 

 or damp weather it turns mouldy, and becomes 

 quite soft. In shooting an arrow in this state, 

 upon examining the place where it has entered, it 

 will be observed that, though the arrow has pene- 

 trated deep into the flesh, still by far the greatest 

 part of the poison has shrunk back, and thus, 

 instead of entering with the arrow, it has re- 

 mained collected at the mouth of the wound. In 

 this case the arrow might as well have not been 

 poisoned. Probably, it was to this that a gentle- 

 man, some time ago, owed his disappointment, 

 when he tried the poison on a horse in the town 

 of Stabroek, the capital of Demerara ; the horse 

 never betrayed the least symptom of being affected 

 by it. 



Wishful to obtain the best information concern- 

 ing this poison, and as repeated inquiries, in lieu 

 of dissipating the surrounding shade, did but tend 

 more and more to darken the little light that 

 existed ; I determined to penetrate into the coun- 

 try where the poisonous ingredients grow, where 

 this pernicious composition is prepared, and where 

 it is constantly used. Success attended the ad- 

 venture ; and the information acquired made 

 amends for one hundred and twenty days passed 

 in the solitudes of Guiana, and afforded a balm to 

 the wounds and bruises which every traveller 



