SOUTH AMERICA. 



237 



sticks answered to the point of the arrow-head, 

 while the other end of the sticks expanded at 

 equal distances round the rope, thus 



THIRD 

 JOURNEY. 



Now it is evident, that if the cayman swallowed 

 this, (the other end of the rope, which was thirty 

 yards long, being fastened to a tree,) the more he 

 pulled, the faster the barbs would stick into his 

 stomach. This wooden hook, if you may so call 

 it, was well-baited with the flesh of the acouri, 

 and the entrails were twisted round the rope for 

 about a foot above it. 



Nearly a mile from where we had our ham- 

 mocks, the sand-bank was steep and abrupt, and 

 the river very still and deep ; there the Indian 

 pricked a stick into the sand. It was two feet 

 long, and on its extremity was fixed the machine ; 

 it hung suspended about a foot from the water, 

 and the end of the rope was made fast to a stake 

 driven well into the sand. 



