SOUTH AMERICA. 55 



sigh as he journeys on. However, here, though FIRST 



J ' f JOURNEY. 



the kind-hearted will be sorry to read of an un- 

 offending 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 pre- 

 pares 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 



