[ 7 6 ] _ 
the Indians for hunting. To them they fit little ar- 
rows made of palm-tree, on which they put a little 
roll of cotton, that exadtly fills the bore of the tube. 
1 hey lhoot them with their breath, and feklom or 
never mils the mark. This fimple inftrument advan- 
tageoufly Supplies the defect of fire-arms among all 
thofe nations. They dip the points of thefe little 
arrows, as well as of thofe of their bows, in this 
poii'on ; which is fo adtive, that, in lefs than a mi- 
nute, efpecially when freffi, it kills certain animals, 
from which the arrow has drawn blood. 
Monfieur be la Condamine fays, in the abridged re- 
lation of his voyage, that “ when he arrived at Cayenne, 
“ he had the curiofity to try, whether this poifon, 
tc which he had kept above a year, ftill retained its ac- 
“ tivity ; and, at the fame time, whether fugar was 
“ really as efficacious acounter-poifon as he had been 
“ allured. Both the experiments were performed, fays 
u he, in prefence of the commandant of the colony, 
u of feveral officers of the garifon, and of the king’s 
“ phyfician. 
“ A hen, llightly wounded with one of thefe lit— 
“ tie arrows, the point of which had been dipp’d in 
“ the poifon thirteen months, at lead, before thes 
“ trial, blown thro’ a trunk, liv’d half a quarter of 
“ an hour: another, prick’d in tire wing with one 
“ of thefe arrows, newly dipp’d in this poifon diluted 
£{ with water, and immediately drawn out of the 
‘ f \vound, feemed to doze a minute after j con- 
£C vulfions loon came on, and, tho’ we had made 
“ her fwallow fome fugar, die expired. A third, 
“ prick’d with the fame arrow, dipp’d again into 
if the poifon, having been inflantly alfifted by the 
“ lame 
