46 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



been doubted ; and the smaller ones were killed with, 

 the hope of substantiating that which has commonly 

 been supposed to be an antidote. 



It makes a pitying heart ache to see a poor creature 

 in distress and pain ; and too often has the compas- 

 sionate traveller occasion to heave a sigh as he journeys 

 on. However, here, though the kind-hearted will be 

 sorry to read of an unoffending animal doomed to death, 

 in order to satisfy a doubt, still it will be a relief to 

 know that the victim was not tortured. The wourali 

 poison destroys life's action so gently, that the victim 

 appears to be in no pain whatever ; and probably, were 

 the truth known, it feels none, saving the momentary 

 smart at the time the arrow enters. 



A day or two before the Macoushi Indian prepares 

 his poison, he goes into the forest, in quest of the in- 

 gredients. A vine grows in these wilds, which is called 

 wourali. It is from this that the poison takes its name, 

 and it is the principal ingredient. When he has pro- 

 cured enough of this, he digs up a root of a very bitter 

 taste, ties them together, and then looks for about two 

 kinds of bulbous plants, which contain a green and 

 glutinous juice. He fills a little quake, which he 

 carries on his back, with the stalks of these; and 

 lastly, ranges up and down till he finds two species of 

 ants. One of them is very large and black, and so 

 venomous, that its sting produces a fever ; it is most 

 commonly to be met with on the ground. The other 

 is a little red ant, which stings like a nettle, and gene- 

 rally has its nest under the leaf of a shrub. After 

 obtaining these, he has no more need to range the 

 forest. 



A quantity of the strongest Indian pepper is used ; 



