Poisoning , caused by the Honey of the Lecheguana Wasp . 97 
assistance, and by the young Frenchman, whom so many extra- 
ordinary events had, in a manner, deprived of reason. All the 
morning we had perceived insurgent Spaniards upon the opposite 
bank of the river; some of them even, who had crossed at a neigh- 
bouring ford, had shewn themselves, at a distance, upon the 
same side on which we were ; and if they did not attack us, it 
was, without doubt, because they supposed us more numerous 
than we were. The dangers of my situation presented them- 
selves in a lively manner to my imagination ; and, weakened as 
I then was, I felt my malady still augmented. 
I had calculated, that the soldier whom I had sent to Guaray 
would return this same day with the new guide. I flattered 
myself that I might receive some assistance from them ; and my 
imagination divided itself entirely between the ardent desire of 
seeing them arrive, and the dread of the danger which I ran. 
I thought I perceived the dogs which accompanied my first 
guide ; and the Frenchman assured me that I was not deceived. 
I thought they were returning with my soldier, and I felt my- 
self reanimated with a glimmering of hope. But these animals 
quickly disappeared, and left me to all my uneasy feelings. 
They had been some of the brown dogs which wander in the 
deserts of the Uruguay ; and having but little attachment to a 
master who fed them ill, they had without doubt been brought 
back by hunger to a place where they had been seen a few days 
before to worry a cow, of which we had given them a large por- 
tion. 
During these occurrences, the hunter Joze Mariano came and 
sat down beside me. He was calmer, and had passed a cloth 
about his waist ; but he had not yet recovered the use of his rea- 
son. 44 My master,” said he to me, 44 I have so long accom- 
panied you ; I was always a faithful servant ; I am in the fire, 
do not refuse me a drop of water.” Filled with terror and com- 
passion, I took him by the hand, and, so far as my strength 
would permit, spoke some words of consolation and friendship 
to him. 
However, the warm water, of which I had drunk a prodigious 
quantity, ended with producing the effect which I had hoped, 
and I vomited, along with a great deal of fluid, a part of the 
food and honey which I had taken in the morning. I then be- 
VOL. XIV. NO. 27. JANUARY 1826. 
G 
