515 



raiz de si misma ; that the venomous exhalations, 

 which arise from the pots, cause the old women 

 (the most useless) to perish, who are chosen to 

 watch over this operation ; finally, that these 

 vegetable juices never appear sufficiently con- 

 centrated, till a few drops produce at a distance 

 a repulsive action on the blood. An Indian 

 wounds himself slightly ; and a dart, dipped in 

 the liquid curare, is held near the wound. If it 

 make the blood return to the vessels without 

 having been brought into contact with them, 

 the poison is judged to be sufficiently concen- 

 trated." I shall not stop to refute these popular 

 tales collected by Father Gumilla. Why indeed 

 should this missionary have hesitated to admit 

 the action of the curare at a distance, when he 

 had no doubt of the properties of a plant, which 

 caused vomiting or purging, according as the 

 leaves had been torn upward or downward from 

 their stem* ? 



When we arrived at Esmeralda, the greater 

 part of the Indians were returning from an ex- 



* " Llamo la atencion de los Fisicos sobre el fraylecilio 6 

 la tuatua (sen euphorbiacea) . Quantas ojas comiere, tan- 

 tas evacuaciones ha de expeler. Si arranca las ojas tirano 

 acia abaxo, cada oja causa una evacuacion ; si las arranca 

 hacia arriba, causan vomitos ; y si arrancan unas para arriba y 

 otras acia abaxo, concurre uno y otro efccto." Gumilla, vol. 

 ii, p. 298, Caulin, p. 29. 



2 l2 



