354 
I Watch the Poison Made. 
958. On concluding these preparations, he went to his house and 
l etui ned with a new clay pot that might hold about four quarts, and two 
other smaller, also quite new, shallow globular-shaped utensils, stepped 
into the urari laboratory, and put the vessels down. In the former the 
poison had to be boiled ; in the latter it had to be exposed to the sun 
for thickening. The large strainer or funnel, made out ol a palm- 
blossom envelope, was cleaned and fresh silk-grass through which to sift 
the fluid laid on it: the large hollowed-out block of wood that served 
as a mortar was likewise cleaned out, because the various ingredients 
had to be crushed in it. When the Indian had got everything accurately 
and orderly arranged, had built a fire-hearth of three stones and placed 
the wood for the fire, he again betook himself to a distance, in order, 
as my companions explained,— because up to now not a word had been 
exchanged between him and myself — to fetch the implements for 
lighting the fire, although a big one, which of course had been lighted 
by profane hands, was burning close by. Just as little dare water that 
has not been fetched from the stream in the pot, as well as any implement 
in general that has not been made by his own hands, or any assistance 
on the part of the residents, be requisitioned or used : every transgression 
of these hallowed laws will render the poison ineffective. 
959. Besides the fleshy root of the Muramu, the different barks were 
now pounded somewhat in the mortar, but one at a time, the carefully 
stacked up wood lighted, and the Urari bark first of all thrown into the 
pot, filled with water, standing over the fire: as already stated there may 
be quite four quarts of water in it. As soon as its contents began to 
boil, the Indian, always at fixed intervals, threw in a handful of the 
remaining ingredients, except the Muramu root, on each occasion 
bending over the vessel and blowing forcibly into the mass, a procedure 
that was to contribute largely to the strength of the poison. While this 
was going on he only kept up so much fire as was necessary for a gentle 
boiling at the same time that he carefully skimmed the scum collecting 
on the surface, leaving it but momentarily during the next 24 hours, 
what time the fire was kept at a continuous even heat. As a result of 
this the extract had become tolerably thick, might have been boiled down 
to about a quart, and had at the same time assumed the colour of a 
strong decoction of coffee. The old chap now took the mass from off the 
fire and poured it into the strainer already mentioned: the extract 
trickled slowly down into one of the shallow" vessels, the remaining 
portion being left behind in the silk-grass. After exposing the strained 
liquid about three hours to the full sunshine, he added to it the slimy 
expressed juice of the Muramu root (which had been previously soaked 
for a short w r hile in the boiling poison and then squeezed out) when ehe 
poison immediately showed a striking change, by coagulating into a 
jelly-like mass. After this peculiar procedure, he poured it into yet 
flatter earthen vessels, which were exposed to the sun for still further 
thickening, namely, to a thick syrupy consistence. The poison w r as after- 
wards poured into the small calabashes or small half -globular earthen 
vessels specially manufactured for the purpose, wehere it then became 
