364 
ANTIDOTE AGAINST SNAKE-BITES. 
masters of that vast country ; if, without having been inipe* 
ded by Christian settlements, they could follow freely the 
development of their barbarous institutions; the worship 
of the bolulo would no doubt become of some political im- 
portance. That mysterious society of the initiated, those 
guardians of the sacred trumpet, would be transformed into 
a ruling caste of priests, and the oracle of Tomo would gra- 
dually form a link between the bordering nations. 
In the evening of the 4th of May we were informed, that an 
Indian, who had assisted in dragging our bark over the por- 
tage of Pimichin, had been stung by a viper. He was a tall 
strong man, and was brought to the mission in a very 
alarming state. He had dropped down senseless; and 
nausea, vertigo, and congestions in the head, had succeeded 
the fainting. The liana called vejuco de guaco* which M- 
Mutis has rendered so celebrated, and which is the most 
certain remedy for the bite of venomous serpents, is yet un- 
known in these countries. A number of Indians hastened 
to the hut of the sick man, and he was cured by an infu- 
sion of raiz de malo. We cannot indicate with certainty 
what plant furnishes this antidote ; but I am inclined to 
think, that the raiz de mato is an apocynea, perhaps the 
Cerbera thevetia, called by the inhabitants of Cumana ling lia 
de mato or contra-culebra, and which they also use against 
the bite of serpeDts. A genus nearly allied to the cer- 
beraf is employed in India for the same purpose. It 13 
common enough to find in the same family of plants vege- 
table poisons, and antidotes against the venom of reptiles- 
Many tonics and narcotics are antidotes more or less active i 
and we find these in families very different^ from each othei'i 
in the aristolochiae, the apocynese, the gentian®, the polygnl®’ 
* This is a mikania, which was confounded for some time in Europe win 1 
the ayapaua. De Candolle thinks that the yuaco may be the Eupatoriuh* 
satureitefolium of Lamarck ; but this Eupatorium differs by its lin eal ’ 
leaves, while the Mikania guaco has triangular, oval, and very large leave 3- 
t Ophioxvlon serpentinum. - a 
J 1 shall mention as examples of these nine families ; Aristolocb 
anguicida, Cerbera thevetia, Ophoiorhixa mungos, Polygala seneS ’ 
Nicotiana tabacum, (one of the remedies most used in Spanish America^ 
Mikanua guaco, Hibiscus abelinoschus (the seeds of which are ve 
active), Lanpujum rumphii, and Kunthia montana 1 Caiia de la Vibora)- 
