WANDERINGS IN 



convulsions come on in the wounded bird, still a stupor 

 evidently takes place sooner, and this stupor manifests 

 itself by an apparent unwillingness in the bird to move. 

 This was very visible in a dying fowl. 



Having procured a healthy full-grown one, a short 

 piece of a poisoned blow-pipe arrow was broken off, and 

 run up into its thigh, as near as possible, betwixt the skin 

 and the flesh, in order that it might not be incommoded 

 by the wound. For the first minute it walked about, but 

 walked very slowly, and did not appear the least agitated. 

 During the second minute it stood still, and began to 

 peck the ground ; and ere half another had elapsed, it 

 frequently opened and shut its mouth. The tail had now 

 dropped, and the wings almost touched the ground. 

 By the termination of the third minute, it had sat down, 

 scarce able to support its head, which nodded, and then 

 recovered itself, and then nodded again, lower and lower 

 every time, like that of a weary traveller slumbering in an 

 erect position ; the eyes alternately open and shut. The 

 fourth minute brought on convulsions, and life and the 

 fifth terminated together. 



The flesh of the game is not in the least injured by the 

 poison, nor does it -appear to corrupt sooner than that 

 killed by the gun or knife. The body of this fowl was 

 kept for sixteen hours, in a climate damp and rainy, and 

 within seven degrees of the equator ; at the end of which 

 time it had contracted no bad smell whatever, and there 



