42 THE LAND-MARKS OF 



mind when we hear many persons boasting (some 

 of them, no doubt, honestly) of their success with, 

 and their ability to cure, serpent-bites." 



" There are raany rernedies (italics mine) be- 

 lieved by the inhabitants to be efficacious ; some 

 kept a secret, some used locally, others inter- 

 nally, and some both local and internal, while 

 passes are made and words used by the profes- 

 sional snake-bite curers, which no doubt are 

 useful with the class on whom they are practised, 

 on the principle of the 'influence of mind over 

 matter.' The preparations consist of a hetero- 

 genous collection, chiefly of various herbs steeped 

 in rum. These must be gathered on a certain 

 day (generally a Friday, and at a certain phase of 

 the moon." The recipes are reported to be ob- 

 tained from old Africans. 



" The St, Lucia Almanac of 1852 gives ' six 

 modes of treatment.' Many of these seem 

 absurd, and one positively dangerous from the 

 amount of arsenic it contains. Mention is made 

 of the guaco * having been re-introduced by 

 Governor Darling from Venezuela, and ' that it 



* The Milkania guaco has had many advocates, amongst 

 them, Andrieux in 1849, Vargas 1798, and others. 



