FISHING AND HUNTING TALES FROM BRAZIL 



919 



cotton fiber, and so lose the necessary 

 symmetry of form to insure accuracy. 

 The point is then dipped in a thick solu- 

 tion of the poison, dried, and is ready for 

 use. 



These arrows have not the geometrical 

 trajectory of the bullet or common ar- 

 row. Owing to their lightness they 

 travel in an almost horizontal line until 

 the air's resistance stops them, when they 

 drop almost straight to the ground. 



Ever since the unique qualities of urari 

 became known, great interest has been 

 taken and many efforts made to learn the 

 secret of compounding it. Humboldt 

 learned that one plant was always an im- 

 portant ingredient ; this is the vine, 

 Strychnos toxifera, which, however, con- 

 tains no trace of strychnine, but is very 

 poisonous. It must be used in combina- 

 tion with other plants to produce the 

 characteristic effects of urari. 



In 1872 one additional ingredient was 

 learned by Prof. Orton, who wrote. 

 "Tobacco and the milk of another plant 

 is added, coagulating it." Without this 

 "milk of another plant," it is not the 

 preeminent sedative which the medical 

 world seeks — one which produces death, 

 indistinguishable from sleep, in its ap- 

 proach. 



A few weeks before my return home 

 from Brazil, a gentleman left the steamer 

 on its downward trip and came for two 

 weeks' rest to the plantation where I was 

 visiting, before taking the sea voyage 

 home. He was a professor in a German 

 university, he told us, and had spent two 

 years 1,000 miles further up the Amazon, 

 among the Ticuna Indians, and was now 

 on his way back. He was thin and sal- 

 low, and seemed to need rest. A few 

 days before his departure I questioned 

 him about the purpose of such an un- 

 usual proceeding, and he related the fol- 

 lowing experience : 



"The medical faculty of our university 

 has been experimenting for several years 

 with urari, and believed they were on the 

 eve of finding a way of using the tremen- 

 dous potentiality of this unique poison to 

 good account in treating some nervous 

 diseases when our supply became ex- 

 hausted. 



"After thoroughly satisfying ourselves 

 that some vital element was unknown to 

 the travelers who believed they had 

 learned the secret, and had given us their 

 preparations to test, the university de- 

 cided to send a botanist, who was also a 

 physician, among the Indians who had 

 made our best samples, and who was to 

 remain long enough to secure their care- 

 fully guarded secret. I was the one 

 chosen and equipped for this service, and 

 started immediately. 



"It was six months before I could get 

 to work. I had to find a village where 

 they made it, learn a little of their in- 

 human language, and win their confi- 

 dence enough to be received among them 

 without exciting their suspicions of my 

 object in coming, for their secret had 

 often been sought by visitors, and they 

 were very suspicious. 



"When one day it was announced that 

 urari was to be made, I joined one of the 

 parties sent out to gather the vine, 

 Strychnos toxifera, which I already 

 knew, having seen it in some European 

 botanical gardens, cultivated as a curios- 

 ity. This was cut in suitable lengths 

 and thrown into a kettle of water, which 

 was kept boiling three days, adding more, 

 and throwing away the old, after it had 

 cooked six hours. 



"The third night, when the vine had 

 all been used, the refuse was thrown 

 away, and some hoodoo ceremonies and 

 incantations were performed by the lead- 

 ers, as they marched around the kettle. 



"I think I should say here that from 

 first to last three old men directed every- 

 thing, and I believe that other members 

 of the tribe knew as little about making 

 urari as I did. They seemed, however, to 

 be greatly impressed by the ceremonies. 



"The next day only six people were 

 sent to the woods, each to gather some 

 one plant. I had no trouble in identify- 

 ing all these before they were put into 

 the kettle of boiling water, left after the 

 vines had been thrown away, and I was 

 encouraged. 



"The following day nearly the whole 

 tribe went out in small parties for the 

 final gathering. When they came in at 

 midday, each brought a bundle of plants 



