234 



CUUAKE POISON. 



Curaro 

 poison. 



CHAP. XIX. and copper-coloured people. A mineralogical error 

 IsmenUda. ^^^6 celebrity to Esmeralda, the rock-crystals and 

 cliloritic quartzes of Duida having been mistaken for 

 diamonds and emeralds. The converts live in great 

 poverty, and their misery is augmented by prodigious 

 swarms of mosquitoes. Yet the situation of the estab- 

 lishment is exceedingly picturesque ; the surrounding 

 country is possessed of great fertility ; and plantains, 

 indigo, sugar, and cacao, might be produced in abun- 

 dance. 



Tliis village is the most celebrated spot on the 

 Orinoco for tlie manufacture of the curare, a very active 

 poison employed in war and in the chase, as well as a 

 remedy for gastric obstructions. Erroneous ideas had 

 been entertained of this substance ; but our travellers 

 had an opportunity of seeing it prepared. When they 

 arrived at Esmeralda, most of the Indians had just 

 finislied an excursion to gather juvias or the fruit of the 

 bei'tholletia, and the liana which yields the curare. 

 Their return was celebrated by a festival, which lasted 

 several days, during which they were in a state of 

 intoxication. One less drunk than the rest was employed 

 in preparing the poison. He was the chemist of the 

 place, and boasted of his skill, extolling the composition 

 as superior to any thing that could be made in Europe. 

 Tlie liana which yields it is named bejuco, and appeared 

 to be of the Strychnos family. The branches are 

 scraped with a knife, and the bark tliat comes off is 

 bruised, and reduced to very thin filaments on the 

 stone employed for grinding cassava. A cold infusion 

 is prepared by pouring water on this fibrous mass, in a 

 funnel made of a plantain-leaf rolled up in the form of 

 a cone, and placed in another somewhat stronger made 

 of palm-leaves, the whole supported by a slight frame- 

 work. A yellowisli fluid filters through the apparatus. 

 It is the venomous liquor; wliich, however, acquires 

 strength only when concentrated by evaporation in a 

 large earthen pot. To give it consistence, it is mixed 

 witli a glutinous vegetable juice, obtained from a tree 



Inlian 

 lestivuL 



Mode (if 

 prt'iiuriiig 



