SOUTH AMERICA. 



51 



almost immediately. Not wishing to dispute this appa- 

 rently satisfactory information, the subject was dropped. 

 However, about an hour after, having purposely asked 

 him in what part of the body the said Indian was wounded, 

 he answered, without hesitation, that the arrow entered 

 betwixt his shoulders, and passed quite through his 

 heart. Was it the weapon, or the strength of the poison, 

 that brought on immediate dissolution in this case ? Of 

 course, the weapon. 



The second have been misled by disappointment, 

 caused by neglect in keeping the poisoned arrows, or by 

 not knowing how to use them, or by trying inferior 

 poison. If the arrows are not kept dry, the poison loses 

 its strength, and in wet or damp weather it turns mouldy, 

 and becomes quite soft. In shooting an arrow in this 

 state, upon examining the place where it has entered, it 

 will be observed that, though the arrow has penetrated 

 deep into the flesh, still by far the greatest part of the 

 poison has shrunk back, and thus, instead of entering 

 with the arrow, it has remained collected at the mouth 

 of the wound. In this case the arrow might as well have 

 not been poisoned. Probably, it was to this that a gen- 

 tleman, some time ago, owed his disappointment, when 

 he tried the poison on a horse in the to^vn of Stabroek, 

 the capital of Demerara ; the horse never betrayed the 

 least symptom of being affected hy it. 



Wishful to obtain the best information concerning this 



n 2 



