1851.] 
POISONING. 
311 
.1 
i| 
I 
i 
I 
il 
j 
■I 
I 
I 
and destructive habit among Indians and half-breeds in 
the houses of the whites. All means had been tried 
to cure him of the habit ; he had been physicked and 
whipped, and confined in-doors, but when no other op- 
portunity oficred he would find a plentiful supply in the 
mud- walls of the house. The symptoms produced were 
swelling of the whole body, face, and limbs, so that he 
could with difficulty walk, and not having so much care 
taken of him after we left, he ate his fill and died. 
The other was an old Indian, the Juiz of the festa of 
St. Antonio, which took place shortly after we left. He 
was poisoned with caxiri, into which had been put the 
juice of a root which produces the most dreadful effects : 
the tongue and throat swell, putrefy, and rot away, and 
the same effects seem to take place in the stomach and 
intestines, till, in two or three days, the patient dies in 
great agony. The poisoner was not known, but it was 
suspected to be a yonng woman, sister of an Indian who 
died in the village a short time before, and whose death 
they imagined to be caused by charms or witchcraft ; 
and the present murder was probably in revenge for this 
supposed injury. Coroners’ inquests are here unknown, 
and the poor old man was buried, and nothing more 
thought about the matter ; perhaps however his family 
may resort to the same means to repay the suspected 
party. 
A few days afterwards a boy died in Sao Jeronymo, and 
a great crying and wailing was made for several hours 
over the body. His maqueira, and bow and arrows, 
were burnt in a fire made at the back of the house, 
within which, according to the universal custom of these 
