S2Ö 
A Fort is Built. 
close to the sources of the Pirara, poisoning of the water by the milky 
juice of its roots w r as the method especially adopted for catching lish. 
That the poison not only acts upon the respiratory organs as can be 
recognised from the difficulty in gasping for air and widely opened gill- 
covers, but that it affects the nervous system to an equal degree is 
shewn by the generally dilated pupils of the dying fish* Although the 
giant Sudis gig as appears to be fairly plentiful in these waters, the 
amount of poison must nevertheless be too infinitesimal for its 
respiratory and nervous systems, because I never succeeded in gaining 
possession of one of these monsters by this means. Supposing the Indians 
do not happen to have the root just to hand, they dam off a shallow area 
of the swamp, and empty the water out with their calabashes, for which 
purpose they place themselves side by side in a long row, their backs to 
the dam, and with astonishing rapidity dash the water between their 
outspread legs over it. As it was impossible for us to consume the 
spoils of such a fishing venture at one and the same meal, we used to fix 
up huge boucans (Räuchereien) so as to ensure its palatableness for at 
least a few days to come. 
890. That idleness is at the root of all evil was demonstrated only 
too soon in our previously so peaceable Pirara. Although Lieutenant 
Bingham had given the most stringent orders that the military were 
only to stop in the village for a few days, the big building or fazenda 
proved so eminently adapted for a barracks, that they had up to now 
clean forgotten about employing his men at throwing up and erecting a 
Fort away from the settlement. The very serious complaints of the 
Indians to Mr. Youd, that their women and daughters did not dare 
venture outside their houses by themselves and that several of them had 
been made drunk and abused, could not allow him to remain indifferent, 
and his resolute threat to leave Pirara at once and make open complaint 
in Georgetown about the neglected execution of their orders, at last 
forced the officers to look around for a suitable site for the construction 
of a fort which they found south-east from the river’s source where they 
forthwith commenced the work. 
891. As the Boundary Expedition were unable to start on their 
journey to the sources of the Takutu for several Aveeks to come, and as 
the environs of the village and of the lake had already been made the 
most of by me for the particular time of year, I determined to spend the 
interval on a trip to the Canuku Ranges where the prospect presented 
itself of a harvest equally rich in plants and animals. There I ought to 
find the beautiful “Cock of the Rock” (Rupicola aurantia Vieill.) and 
equally interesting Belli-bird ( Chasnarhynchiis carunculatus Tern.) and 
as I likewise still dared to hope, the Strgchnos toxifera Schomb. in flower, 
the notorious creeper which supplies the chief ingredient of the terrible 
Urari poison. 
* The catch for the*most part consisted of Oxieoglossim Mcirrhosum Spix . Acara marqarita 
Hackel, Pacu nigricans Spix , Oeophaaus jurupari Heckel, Cliaetobr anchus flavescens Heckel,, 
Leporinus fasciatus Müll. Trosch., Frederici Agass., Anodus alburnus Müll. Trosch., A. cyprino- 
ide* Müll. Trosch., Ciehla ocellari * Bloch., Crenicichla saxaUlix Heckel, Myletes rubripinnis 
Müll. Trosch., Myieus seliger Müll Trosch., and Schizodon fasciatus Agass. 
