FOREST AND STREAM. 



281 



to have the same habit as its European relative, and spawn 

 in the spring. It is adapted, like all the Salmonoids, to 

 artificial culture, the ova according to Frank Buckland, 

 hatching in spring water at the ordinary temperature, in 

 about fourteen days after impregnation. 

 «*» ^~ ■ 



k 



THE URARI POISON. 



THE attention of the readers of Forest and Stream 

 has lately been called to this interesting subject, and 

 a few additional remarks may not be out of place. By way 

 of preface it may be said that Doctor Saffray, in the article 

 in Le Tour du Monde, does not state that the Urari poison 

 is prepared from the venom of a toad, though this might 

 fairly be inferred by the reader; he says that the arrows of 

 the Choco Indians of New Granada are armed with "a sub- 

 stance similar to curare" and like it in its effects, while it 

 is undoubtedly true, as stated by St. George Mivart, that 

 the ability to inflict wounds and to convey venom is not 

 found in any animals which are even near allies of the frogs 

 and toads, it is also true that the viscous secretion, which 

 exudes so copiously from the pores of these animals, is very 

 acrid and even poisonous. These clumsy and otherwise 

 unprotected creatures are thus provided with a very effectual 

 means of defense, as will be acknowledged by every one 

 who has seen a dog trying to take a toad in his mouth. It 

 is commonly said that handling a toad will produce warts; 

 of course this is very ridiculous, but like most popular be- 

 liefs it is not without foundation. The writer knows from 

 experience that the exudation from a common toad is gain- 

 ful if it touches a cut finger. There are cases on record 

 where serious results have attended the introduction of this 

 substance into the blood and there appears to be no ade- 

 quate reason for doubting the statements of Doctor Saffray 

 regarding the use of the secretion of Phyllobates rnelanor- 

 rhinus as arrow poison. 



The Urari poison is obtained from a very different source, 

 being prepared from the bark of a woody vine or liana, 

 growing in the Guianas and the valley of the Amazons. 

 This vine, the StrycJmos toxifera, is closely related to the 

 plants from which are prepared the well-known drugs 

 Strychnine, Nux Vomica and Brucia, The arrow poison, 

 though the deadliest of known blood poisons, may be swal- 

 lowed without serious inconvenience, thus resembling the 

 animal rather than the vegetable poisons. Hence it was for 

 a long time supposed that it derived its properties from the 

 serpent venom and the stinging ants, used by the Indians 

 in compounding it. Sir Richard Schomburgh prepared it 

 by concentrating an infusion of the bark collected in his 

 presence, thus proving beyond a doubt its true origin; the 

 poison thus prepared, though not sufficiently concentrated, 

 killed a fowl in twenty-seven minutes. 



The peculiar properties of the Urari poison are due to 

 the presence of the Alkaloid Urari nor Curarin, discovered 

 by Boussignault in 1828, but first produced in a pure crys- 

 talized state by Dr. Preyer of Bonn in 1865. Many em 

 inent physiologists have studied its effects but their experi- 

 ments have not yet dispelled the mystery which has alwa3^s 

 attended it. It appears to act upon the muscles, causing 

 death by paralyzing the heart or the muscles of respiration. 

 Animals on receiving it into their blood soon fall in a stupor, 

 the pulse becomes strong and rapid, the breath hard and 

 accelerated, the muscles after a convulsive motion are par- 

 alysed, the body becomes cold and death ensues in five, to 

 thirty minutes according to the size of the animal and the 

 strength of the poison. 



According to the experiments of M. Goudot birds seem 

 most susceptible to its effects, then mammals, then reptiles. 

 The experiments of Prof. Wm. North Rice, made in con- 

 nection with last summer's work of the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, show that mollusks are not in the least affected 

 by it. 



Urari has been employed in medicine as a specific for s 

 epilepsy, but the success of the experiments was not such 

 as to recommend its general use. "We have frequently seen 

 it used to paralyse a frog, preparatory to placing it under 

 the lecturer's microscope to demonstrate the circulation of 

 the blood. 



The Indian arrow poison is known by various names ; 

 that prepared on the Orinoco as Urari or Curari, that 

 from the Guianas as Urali, that from the Amazons 

 as Ticunas. The usage of different writers and 

 the interchange of r and 7, practised by the South 

 American Indians have given rise to multitudinous varia- 

 tions, such as Urari, Woorari, Woorara, Oorara, Urali Wour- 

 ali, Ulari, Curare, Curari, and Voorari. Some fixed ortho- 

 graphy seems eminently desirable, and Urari seems to have 

 the sanction of the best authorities. 



Below is given an account of the mode of preparation in 

 the words of Charles Waterton, who early in the present 

 century made a long and perilous journey into the interior 

 of Guiana, expressly to collect the poison. Those who are 

 interested in a fuller account of the poison, its use and its 

 effects should not fail to read that most fascinating of 

 all books of travel "Waterton's Wanderings in South 

 America. " 



"When the Macoushi Indian prepares his poison, he 

 scrapes the Wourali Vine, and a bitter root into their shav- 

 ings, and puts them into a kind of colander made of leaves ; 

 this he holds over an earthen pot, and pours water on the 

 shavings; the liquor which comes through has the appear- 

 ance of coffee. When a sufficient quantity has been pro- 

 cured the shavings are thrown aside. He then bruises some 

 bulbous stalks which he has gathered, an J squeezes a pro- 

 portionate quantity of their juice through his hands into the 

 pot. Then the pounded fangs of the Labarri and the 

 Counacouchi snakes are added, a quantity of the strongest 



Indian pepper and of two species of ants are thrown into it. 

 It is then placed on a slow fire, and as it boils more of the 

 juice of the Wourali is added, according as it may be found 

 necessary, and the scum is taken off with a leaf; it remains 

 on the fire till reduced to a thick syrup of a deep brown 

 color. As soon as it has arrived at this state a few arrows 

 are poisoned with it, to try its strength. If it answers the 

 expectations, it is poured out into a calabash, or little pot 

 of Indian manufacture, which is carefully covered with a 

 couple of leaves, and over them a piece of deer's skin, tied 

 round with a cord. They keep it in the most dry part of 

 the hut; and from time to time suspend it over the fire to 

 counteract the effects of dampness." 



It is interesting to know that some of the identical poison 

 collected by Waterton in Guiana in 1813 was in existence in 

 London in good condition in 1864. 



A SOLOMON OF AN ARCHITECT. 



ELEVATIONS, plans, working details, estimates, and 

 contracts, as furnished by our most experienced archi- 

 tects have their numerous drawbacks. We suppose there 

 never was a human being born who did not indulge in 

 some preconceived notions, as to how he would like his 

 own particular nest to be built, which ambitious fancies arc 

 invariably met by the builder with scorn — nay almost with 

 derision. "You want," says the architect," a Gothic Villa? 

 good. Now the idea of your having an airy room in your 

 third story, with seventeen windows is impossible. The 

 style of architecture is against it, and my reputation would 

 not allow of it. The canons of my art say six windows, 

 neither more nor less. If you like, for it is perfectly indif- 

 ferent to me, take a Renaissance style of building, and I 

 may possibly, after I have studied it, approximate my 

 plans to your somewhat crude ideas. ' 'But," you ask some- 

 what abashed, "Are considerations of health secondary 

 to the exigencies of Gothic art?" 



' "They are sir, and that conviction has long been forced on 

 me, by the sublimity of my profession," replies the archi- 

 tect. 



Happy dwellers of the Solomon Islands, whose country 

 washed by the broad Pacific, ignores the architect, and which 

 if thwarted by one, might knock him in the head, next 

 roast him with his drawings, ground plans, and sketcbes, 

 and lastly devour him. In those fortunate isles, the intel- 

 ligent people, (each one as the Hebrew King Solomon, from 

 whence the name of the country was undoubtedly derived), 

 select a tall tree for a building site. The higher the tree, 

 the more money does it command, in the Solomon Islands 

 real estate market. The most desirable family location, 

 must be at least one hundred and twenty feet from the 

 ground, and the tree must have no limbs, save on the very 

 top. In the upper portion of this choice situation, whence 

 the branches begin to fork, the Solomon islander weaves 

 in a foundation of light supple pieces of wood, and on this 

 constructs his family residence. How to get up into his 

 house, is quite an easy matter. No calculations are here 

 necessary, as of broad flights of steps, or a cork screw stairs, 

 the real pons asinorum, the stumbling blocks of all fool-hardy 

 self constituted architects. The Solomon islander, takes 

 one of those running vines, as strong as a steel rope and 

 far more pliant, and letting this dangle down from his 

 dwelling to the ground, runs up and down 1 his improvised 

 stair with the ease and grace of a squirrel. 



The advantages of such a method of construction, perfect 

 in all its details, are manifest. At night all the careful 

 housekeeper has to do, is to haul up his flying stair case, 

 and there he is, as safe in his airy house, ^as an old feudal 

 Baron was with his portecullis drawn up. No policemen 

 or night patrols are necessary for the protection of the 

 house holder in the Solomon Island cities. Once snug in 

 his house in the tree top, he defies the sneak thief and the 

 burglar. Should a'social neighbor wish to pay a visit, there 

 is no door bell to pull, all he has to do is to tap the trunk 

 of the tree, and instantly his friend aloit replies, and down 

 comes the hospitable ladder. If it should happen to be 

 an unwelcome comer, the wary Solomon man has ready 

 at hand an assortment of heavy stones', which he can drop 

 on the head of the intruder. Calls from one house to 

 another of an informal character, by means of the vine 

 cables, which are thrown from one airy lodging to another. 

 Of course going home or going to bed, must depend on the 

 personal climbing power of the Solomon islander, and his 

 monkey like ability, adds another strong link to the Dar- 

 winian chain. 



To the wonderful physical attributes of these primitive 

 people, there are joined, however, certain other quite un- 

 fortunate tendencies. It is true that we might acquire 

 a Solomon Islander in his own house, no end of useful in- 

 formation, as to the best methods of constructing a house, 

 which would combine all the advantages of cheapness, 

 comfort and good ventilation, still as he is a determined 

 man eater, we are likely at least for the p esent to be domi- 

 neered over by our own architect, who though he may be 

 ciuelly aesthetic, has not (as far at least as we are aware) 

 any cannibalistic inclinations. 



—A famous Prussian general was inspecting some military 

 stables. "What do I see there?" he said, in tones of thun- 

 der, to the sergeant; "cobwebs?" "Yes, sir," was the re- 

 spectful reply ; ' 'we keep them there to catch the flies and 

 prevent them teasing the horses." 



-*-*-#. 



— If it wasn't for the ten cent stamp occasionally found 

 in a chew of tobacco, a considerable portion of our citizens 

 would starve. 



THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN AT HAM- 

 BURG. 



MANY of the readers of the Forest and Stream have 

 undoubtedly visited that most opulent and thriving 

 old HansaTown of Germany, and of those who have been at 

 that city in later years, few will have failed to visit the Zoo- 

 logical Garden; a creation which has arisen with almost 

 American rapidity, and has been prosecuted with an energy 

 which makes it now one of the best collections in the 

 Old or New World. 



Passing recently a few days at Hamburg in the company 

 of a New Yorker, well acquainted with the city, while I 

 was comparatively a Strang jr, we were on a very lovely 

 June afternoon leaving the very excellent hostelry, " The 

 Zum Kronprinz von Preussen " which fronts that most 

 charming of all European city prospects, the Alster Basin. 

 Between three and four of any afternoon, the fashionable 

 promenade of the Hamburgers is along those magnificent 

 sheets of water, arms of the Elbe river, which, spreading like 

 lakes in the very midst of a populous city, in my opinion 

 surpasses in beauty the Newa Prospect, or the Seine in the 

 city of Paris. The Jungfernstieg in Hamburg is one of the 

 European sights. We were quite uncertain which way to 

 turn, when we reached the long viaduct over the water, 

 wli ere several roads diverge, when my friend said: "We 

 are near the Damm Gate; to-day is a "reserved" day for the 

 stockholders and strangers, let us go to the Zoologica. 

 Garden ; we will not meet any mixed crowd, and will be 

 able to see what is to be seen at our leisure; and besides, 

 will have a chance to take a look at the Hamburg belles and 

 beaux." 



Neither naturalist nor zoologist, as these subjects have al- 

 ways interested me, I gladly entered into my friend's propo- 

 sition. The road "near the cemeteries" brought us to the 

 chief entrance of the Garden. Before entering, it nury not 

 be amiss to state how these gardens originated. 



The Zoological Garden at Hamburg is not a State Insti- 

 tution, as are most of the other Continental collections of a 

 like character, nor does it receive any aid from the Senate 

 or the Assembly of the Free City. It owes its existence to 

 the love for Natural History, and to a desire for useful in- 

 formation, and owes its origin to a number of eminently 

 successful and wealthy mercantile gentlemen of Hamburg, 

 such as Messrs. A. Meyer, Booth, Schiller, DeCraeker, Net- 

 ting, Dioze and others, but particularly to the energy of the 

 late Baron Ernest von Merck, the father of the enterprise, 

 whose memory is honored within the garden by a most ex- 

 cellent bust erected in what is called the " Winter House." 

 On January 28, 1860, these gentlemen formed a provisonal 

 society; on the 10th July of the same year the first general 

 meeting was held, all the shares were taken, and on the 

 17th of August, 1861, the government of Hamburg voted 

 the Society the free use for 50 years of a large plot of land: 

 a sandy desert without a tree lying near the Damm Gate on 

 the outskirts of Hamburg. This ground, which was then 

 worth nothing to the city, could not now be bought prob- 

 ably for less than a million Mark Banco; or thrice the 

 amount of the whole capital of the Society, originally sub- 

 scribed. It has had another effect. On all sides of this 

 Park, as a nucleus, new streets lined with fine houses, have 

 sprung up, extending through the city, so that Hamburg 

 and Altona, and all the outlying places— villages but twenty 

 years ago— seem now united in one grand whole. Messrs. 

 Meuron and Haller were appointed architects; Mr. Jurgens 

 head gardener, and Mr. Lienau water engineer *f or the neces 

 sary water works and constructions, by the Society. In 

 November, 1863, the greater part of the necessary buildings 

 had been completed, and on May 16, 1868, the Garden had 

 arisen out of a wilderness to almost its present beautiful 

 aspect; with groves and lakes and artificial hills crowned 

 with old ruins; stocked by a well-assorted and splendidly 

 housed collection of specimens from all the departments of 

 zoology. The Aquarium is now one of the most celebrated 

 in the world. The man who had with such love watched 

 over this creation of his, was not allowed to enjoy the well- 

 earned praises of his fellow-citizens. Baron Merck the 

 founder of the Zoological Garden, died suddenlv on Julv 6 

 1863. " J ' 



Entering the handsome gates where we procure our 

 tickets at a moderate rate, we turn our steps to the deer 

 houses, lying immediately before us, three in number, 

 where we meet many old acquaintances, among whom a 

 very fine specimen of our American Wapiti, (cervus cana- 

 densis), whose magnificent antlers are the admiration of all 

 visitors; a noble red deer, a present of the late King of 

 Hanover; a rein deer, and above all an elk, which species 

 is getting scarcer in Europe every year, and is only found 

 in very small numbers in East Prussia, Lithuania, Poland 

 Russia, Norway, and Sweden. There are, in all, some fifty 

 specimens of the various species here collected. A few 

 steps further we stop before an enormous house, devoted to 

 birds of prey, where vultures, eagles and falcons are kept, 

 each species to themselves in almost perfect liberty. To 

 mention but a few of the many fine birds, there is an en 

 ormous condor from the Andes, truly the king of birds, of 

 which Alexander von Humboldt mentions, to illustrate the 

 enormous heights they ascend, 16,000 feet high, that h e 

 saw one of these birds hover above him, a mere discern able 

 speck. A specimen of a very scarce eagle, the "fighting " 

 eagle — spizaetos oeUicosus — we found here; of whom Le Vail- 

 lant gives so bellicose an account as being the most com- 

 bative of all eagles. Its home is in Central and Southern 

 Africa, and it is found comparatively seldom in collections 

 Our American national eagle and our buzzard were not un- 

 represented. 



