404. 



HERVA COBREIRA. 



administered so as to produce intoxication. J 

 have also seen a small plant, which is known 

 under the name of herva cobreira ; wherever I 

 have seen it, the plant has been carefully pre- 

 served in a pot. This would denote that it is 

 not indigenous to the part of the country in 

 which I was ; and indeed I was told that it had 

 been brought from Africa. I never saw its 

 flower; the leaves of it are small and heart- 

 shaped; the stem is of four or five inches in 

 length, and of a deep red colour, which becomes 

 greenish towards the points of the branches : 

 these are long, crooked, and spread horizontally. 

 The leaves and the softer branches are bruised, 

 and are applied to the wound, and the juice 

 which is extracted from them, when mixed with 

 rum or water, is drank by the patient. I do not 

 vouch for its success ; but its name must, I 

 should imagine, have been acquired by its repu- 

 tation. * 



* Labat speaks of a tree, of which the fruit is a perfect 

 cure for the bite of the most dangerous snakes. He says 

 that it comes from the isthmus of Darien ; that the buccaniers 

 were informed of its virtue by the Indians who accompanied 

 them in their expeditions across the isthmus. He does not 

 give the name of the tree ; but says " sans nous embarasser 

 du nomde Varbre nous nous contentons d'appeller son fruit noix 

 de serpent" In his time there were three of these trees at 

 Martinique, which were of the size of apricot-trees in France. 

 He says that he witnessed the success of the fruit. The 

 account of the plant and its virtues is too long to be inserted 

 here. It is to be found in the Nouveau Voyage aux iles dc 

 I'Amerique, torn. iii. p. 234 to 238. 



