FIRST JOURNEY. 43 



as Lake Pariina, or El Dorado, lie replied, he looked 

 upon it as imaginary altogether. " I have been above 

 forty years," added he, "in Portuguese Guiana, but 

 have never yet met with anybody who has seen the 

 lake." 



So much for Lake Parima, or El Dorado, or the 

 "White Sea. Its existence at best seems doubtful ; some 

 affirm that there is such a place, and others deny it. 



" Grammatici certant, et adliuc sub judice lis est." 



Having now reached the Portuguese inland frontier, 



Wovraiipoi- an( ^ collected a sufficient quantity of the 



"^ wourali poison, nothing remains but to give 



a brief account of its composition, its effects, its uses, 



and its supposed antidotes. 



It has been already remarked, that in the extensive 

 wilds of Demerara and Essequibo, far away from any 

 European settlement, there is a tribe of Indians who 

 are known by the name of Macoushi. 



Though the wourali poison is used by all the South 

 American savages betwixt the Amazons and the Oroo- 

 noque, still this tribe makes it stronger than any of the 

 rest. The Indians in the vicinity of the Eio Negro 

 are aware of this, and come to the Macoushi country to 

 purchase it. 



Much has been said concerning this fatal and extra- 

 ordinary 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 



