FIRST JOURNEY. 



63 



Wherefore let him reject these antidotes as unprofit- 

 able, and of no avail. He has got an active and a 

 deadly foe within him, which, like Shakspeare's 

 fell Sergeant Death, is strict in his arrest, and will 

 allow him but little time — very — very little time. In 

 a few minutes he will be numbered with the dead. 

 Life ought, if possible, to be preserved, be the expense 

 ever so great. Should the part affected admit of it, let 

 a ligature be tied tight round the wound, and have 

 immediate recourse to the knife : 



" Continuo, culpam ferro compesce priusquam, 

 Dira per infaustum serpant contagia corpus." 



And now, kind reader, it is time to bid thee farewell. 

 The two ends proposed have been obtained. The Por- 

 tuguese inland frontier fort has been reached, and the 

 Macoushi wourali poison acquired. The account of this 

 excursion through the interior of Guiana has been sub- 

 mitted to thy perusal, in order to induce thy abler 

 genius to undertake a more extensive one. If any diffi- 

 culties have arisen, or fevers come on, they have been 

 caused by the periodical rains, which fall in torrents, 

 as the sun approaches the tropic of Cancer. In dry 

 weather there would be no difficulties or sickness. 



Amongst the many satisfactory conclusions which 

 thou wouldst be able to draw during the journey, 

 there is one which, perhaps, would please thee not a 

 little ; and that is, w T ith regard to dogs. Many a time, 

 no doubt, thou hast heard it hotly disputed, that dogs 

 existed in Guiana previous to the arrival of the Spaniards 

 in those parts. "Whatever the Spaniards introduced, 

 and which bore no resemblance to anything the Indians 

 had been accustomed to see, retains its Spanish name 

 to this day. 



