394 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA 



Indian, can be made to propel arrows so as to kill at a 

 distance of fifty and sixty yards. The aim is most certain 

 when the tube is held vertically, or nearly so. It is a far 

 more useful weapon in the forest than a gun, for the 

 report of a firearm alarms the whole flock of birds or 

 monkeys feeding on a tree, whilst the silent poisoned dart 

 brings the animals down one by one until the sportsman 

 has a heap of slain by his side. None but the stealthy 

 Indian can use it efiectively. The poison, which must 

 be fresh to kill speedily, is obtained only of the Indians 

 who live beyond the cataracts of the rivers flowing from 

 the north, especially the Rio Negro and the Japura. Its 

 principal ingredient is the wood of the Strychnos toxifera 

 a tree which does not grow in the humid forests of the 

 river plains. A most graphic account of the Urari, and 

 of an expedition undertaken in search of the tree in 

 Guiana, has been given by Sir Robert Schomburgk.^ 



When we returned to the house after mid-day, Cardozo 

 was still sipping cauim, and now looked exceedingly 

 merry. It was fearfully hot : the good fellow sat in his 

 hammock with a cuya full of grog in his hands : his broad 

 honest face all of a glow, and the perspiration streaming 

 down his uncovered breast, the unbuttoned shirt having 

 slipped half-way over his broad shoulders. Pedro-uassu 

 had not drunk much : he was noted, as I afterwards learnt, 

 for his temperance. But he was standing up as I had left 

 him two hours previous, talking to Cardozo in the same 

 monotonous tones, the conversation apparently not having 

 flagged all the time. I had never heard so much talking 

 amongst Indians. The widower was asleep : the stirring, 

 managing old lady with her daughter were preparing 

 dinner. This, which was ready soon after I entered, 

 consisted of boiled fowls and rice, seasoned with large 

 green peppers and lemon juice, and piles of new, fragrant 

 farinha and raw bananas. It was served on plates of 

 English manufacture on a tupe, or large plaited rush mat, 

 such as is made by the natives pretty generally on the 

 Amazons. Three or four other Indians, men and women 

 of middle age, now made their appearance, and joined in 

 the meal. We all sat round on the floor : the women, 

 according to custom, not eating until after the men had 

 done. Before sitting down, our host apologized in his 



^ Aitnals and Magazine of Natural History^ vol. vii., p. 411. 



