4(5 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIRST 
JOURN F.Y 
Wourali 
poison. 
the wall on each side of it; but the present com¬ 
mander is putting it into thorough repair. When 
finished, it will mount six nine, and six twelve 
pounders. 
In a straight line with the fort, and within a few 
yards of the river, stand the commander’s house, 
the barracks, the chapel, the father confessor’s house, 
and two others, all at little intervals from each other; 
and these are the only buildings at Fort St. Joachim. 
The neighbouring extensive plains afford good pas¬ 
turage for a fine breed of cattle, and the Portuguese 
make enough of butter and cheese for their own 
consumption. 
On asking the old officer if there were such a place 
as Lake Parima, or El Dorado, he replied, he looked 
upon it as imaginary altogether. “ I have been 
above forty years,” added he, “ in Portuguese 
Guiana, but have never yet met with any body who 
has seen the lake.” 
So much for Lake Parima, or El Dorado, or the 
White Sea. Its existence at best seems doubtful; 
some affirm that there is such a place, and others 
deny it. 
“Grammatici certant, et adhue sub judice lis est.” 
Having now reached the Portuguese inland fron¬ 
tier, and collected a sufficient quantity of the wourali 
poison, nothing remains but to give a brief account 
of its composition, its effects, its uses, and its sup¬ 
posed antidotes. 
It has been already remarked, that in the exten- 
