LabARIA ANT) BüSHMASTER. 
103 
ticular remedy, among wliicli, of course, a large number must I5e recK* 
oiied imaginary. Tims in soiiif liil)cs, noitliei- the AvoundocT man nor his 
children, nor his parents noi- his brothers and sisters, go long as they live 
in one and the same village with him, ate allowed to drink water, to 
bathe in it, or to come near it, diu ing the period directly following on the 
bite: his wife is only peruritled to do this A thin pap of pumpkin, that 
may oaily be eaten aa arm, has to queneh his thirst. l\oast<»d plantains are 
the only nourishment allowed him at this time. If the person bitten has 
tasted sngar-caiie jnit-e art<'r the accident, lie must later on avoid all 
sweets. Other tiibes believe in human milk as an efficacious antidote 
which they employ in conjnnctioia with emollient cassava bread poultices, 
but according to our own experience, the only counteracting prox)ertie8 
are to be ascribed to the latter. Others again apply the expressed juice of 
the leaf stalk and roots of the Droconfiii ni (JkMiidi Kunth., nov. sp., as I 
have already taken the opportunity of mentionring. The customary use 
throughout almost the whole of South America, pai'ticularly in Peru and 
Chile, of the Mikania fiiiaro Humb. Bonp., which the aborigines call 
Errawareng, 'SN as quite unknown among the Indians of Guiana, although 
in addition to this species I found here the Mikanhi raccmuJom Benth., 
M. Hool-eriona DeC, At. deiiticulata Willd., M. eonvolvulacea DeC, M. 
Parlccriana DeC, and M. anf/vJaris, which almost always possess the 
Ititter princi]ile. The mnlattoes employ a decoction of Bf iJmma Guaco and 
M. (iiir/iil(ii-is as a powerful remedy against syphilis. Of fairly general 
use for ihe l>ite of a rattle snake, is the infusion of BjfrRoniwa crnftnfoUa 
and />. Monrcila London, of the Aroids already mentioned, as well as that 
of the Qiirhiiea f/indiinn^ifi Aid)l., lielonging to the same family. The 
healing effect of all these remedies appears to depend however to a very 
great extent upon the bodily constitution of the pei'son bitten, because it 
is only very rarely that women and weak men escape with their lives, 
255. The ^luakes that the Indians and Mulattoes are mostly 
afraid of are: the Labaria of the Colonists, Sororairaa of thf 
Macusis (TrifioiwcrpJinlus afrox) of whi^h there area few varieties 
particularly differing from one another through some deviation of 
colour, and the universally shunned Bushmaster, Kunekuschi of 
the Indians (Crofahis mvtus, Linn., Lachesis mnta Daud., 'TjacJieMs 
rliomljeafa Pr. Neuwied) the length of which is said to vary between 
4 and 8 feet, and the girth to approximate that of a man's 
thigh. Like the poison-fangs which are often over an inch long, 
the heart-shaped head, considerably widened by the poison-glands, 
and surprisingly well deliniinated neck, are indications, even at 
a distance, of the dangerous nature of this beautifully marked reptile. 
Indeed, if it did not live in the high forests, where, during the day it lies 
coiled up on the ground, and were it to be more plentiful than it really is. 
Death would be lying in wait for the wanderer at eveiy step, because judg- 
ing from what the Indians all say this snake does not run away from man" 
like the others, bn-t Avonnd \\\^ in a S]nral quietly awaits the person ap- 
proaching, and then daris at him with the quickness of an arrow. During 
my first stay at Bartika Grove I met a mulatto there whose son, some 
^eeks before my arrival, had licen 1)itten in the left cheek by the malicioua 
