50 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIRST 
JOURNEY 
hearted will be sorry to read of an unoffending 
animal doomed to death, in order to satisfy a doubt, 
still it will be a relief to know that the victim was 
not tortured. The wourali poison destroys life’s 
action so gently, that the victim appears to be in 
no pain whatever; and probably, were the truth 
known, it feels none, saving the momentary smart 
at the time the arrow enters. 
A day or two before the Macoushi Indian pre¬ 
pares his poison, he goes into the forest, in quest of 
the ingredients. A vine grows in these wilds, which 
is called wourali. It is from this that the poison 
takes its name, and it is the principal ingredient. 
When he has procured enough of this, he digs up 
a root of a very bitter taste, ties them together, and 
then looks about for two kinds of bulbous plants, 
which contain a green and glutinous juice. He fills 
a little quake, which he carries on his back, with 
the stalks of these; and lastly, ranges up and down 
till he finds two species of ants. One of them is 
very large and black, and so venomous, that its 
sting produces a fever; it is most commonly to be 
met with on the ground. The other is a little red 
ant, which stings like a nettle, and generally has its 
nest under the leaf of a shrub. After obtaining these, 
he has no more need to range the forest. 
A quantity of the strongest Indian pepper is 
used; but this he has already planted round his 
hut. The pounded fangs of the Labarri snake, 
and those of the Counacouchi, are likewise added. 
These he commonly has in store; for when he kills 
