XI 
SAN CARLOS 
367 
heard a slight shuffling noise near me, and on 
looking up saw a poor toad crossing the floor with 
all speed and a jararaca in close pursuit. I sprang 
up and the jararaca faced about and retreated to 
a forno (mandiocca oven) which was near ; beneath 
this it succeeded in hiding itself ere I could lay 
hold of anything with which to attack it. 
[The following cases of snake-bite ending fatally 
which Spruce heard from the relatives of the 
sufferers, together with one case treated differently in 
which he witnessed the recovery, gave him an amount 
of experience which enabled him, nearly two years 
later, undoubtedly to save the life of an Indian of 
Peru, and by so doing not improbably his own.] 
Oct. II, 1853. — Two days ago a boy of about 
twelve years old was bitten by a rattlesnake while 
hunting peccari with his father and mother in the 
forest at some distance from their cuniico, which 
is nearly a day below San Carlos. He was stand- 
ing at the time on a spot remarkably clear of bush, 
and his mother had only just left his side when 
(as it would seem) the snake sallied out of a 
thicket near by and bit him in the back of the leg 
just below the calf. He was taken home with all 
speed and gunpowder was applied to the wound and 
given him to drink. The grated skin of the buta 
(tonnina) was also given him, great faith being 
put by the Indians (apparently without any reason) 
in this remedy. Notwithstanding these applica- 
tions, the wound speedily proved fatal. He was 
bitten at i p.m., and by three of the following morn- 
ing he was a corpse. The body was brought to 
the village to bury. . . . 
