No Antidote Hitherto Discovered. 
357 
poison mnker also believes that lie is sick for some days aftei preparing 
it. Mr. Youd informed me that the man who made the poison in his 
presence had commenced it on a Friday, and when on Sunday he told 
him to stop the boiling which he only reluctantly did, he had, neverthe- 
less, kept under the pot during this very day at least some glowing char- 
coal ; furthermore, he also did not attend Divine Service but sat outside 
the church by the window, for had he mixed among the crowd the 
strength of the article would have been destroyed. The manufacture of 
Urari seems to be without any danger; even the vapours that 
rise from t lie boiling poison are absolutely harmless, and only the 
stipulation that the boiling of the poison requires a few days, during 
which time the developing scum has to be continually skimmed, as well 
as the fatiguing superstitious custom which the poison maker has to 
follow appear to be the reason why it is manufactured only once a year 
or at the very most, twice. 
963. As I almost daily, when out hunting, found opportunity to 
observe the effects of the poison, I was able to sketch out for myself a 
table indicating the tenacity of life of the different animals and classes 
of animals ; this reached its maximum in the sloth. It is possible this 
may lie due to the animal’s peculiar vascular system and its consequent 
restricted and slow circulation : briefly put, the effects on it are the 
longest to appear, but at the same time the shortest to last, because 
with this animal there is no sign of even weak or slight convulsions as 
are always apparent in other creatures when the poison begins to act. 
I scratched the upper lip of a sloth, rubbed a drop of the poison into the 
wound, which gave no particle of blood, and then removed it close tö a 
tree up which it commenced to climb. After clambering some ten or 
twelve feet it suddenly clung to the trunk, turned its head to this 
side and that, tried to resume the ascent, which it was no longer able to 
do, and then let go first of all with one of its forefeet, and soon after- 
wards with the other, but still remained hanging by its hind feet, until 
these also became limp, when it fell to the ground where, without any 
spasmodic convulsions, without any at all taking place even, it lay 
breathing with difficulty, until by the thirteenth minute its life had sped. 
964. An effective antidote for Urari has indeed not been discovered 
so far, although the Indians mention many a one, but cannot guarantee 
escape absolutely. As already stated, among such is included sugar- 
juice alone, or mixed with the infusion from the root of a species of 
Wallaba ( Eperua or Dimorpha) ; salt is also said to be counteractive. 
It is maintained that those poisoned with Urari suffer from the most 
awful thirst. For several years past many experiments have been made 
in London, particularly on donkeys, and in one case with successful 
results. For instance, a jenny was pricked in the shoulder; ten minutes 
later the symptoms of the death struggle were ended, and through an inci- 
sion in the wind-pipe, atmospheric air was immediately and forcibly intror 
duced into the lungs for two solid hours continuously, and the apparently 
escaped life returned : the donkey began to move her head, but with the 
