52 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIRST 
JOUKNEY. 
Yabahou, 
or evil 
spirit. 
Indian 
super¬ 
stition. 
liis hammock, or in the midst of his family; but, if 
he has to prepare the wourali poison, many pre¬ 
cautions are supposed to be necessary. 
The women and young girls are not allowed to 
be present, lest the Yabahou, or evil spirit, should 
do them harm. The shed under which it has been 
boiled, is pronounced polluted, and abandoned ever 
after. He who makes the poison must eat nothing 
that morning, and must continue fasting as long as 
the operation lasts. The pot in which it is boiled 
must be a new one, and must never have held any 
thing before, otherwise the poison would be deficient 
in strength : add to this, that the operator must take 
particular care not to expose himself to the vapour 
which arises from it while on the fire. 
Though this and other precautions are taken, such 
as frequently washing the face and hands, still the 
Indians think that it affects the health ; and the 
operator either is, or, what is more probable, sup¬ 
poses himself to be, sick for some days after. 
Thus it appears that the making the wourali 
poison is considered as a gloomy and mysterious 
operation; and it would seem that they imagine it 
affects others as well as him who boils it; for an 
Indian agreed one evening to make some for me, but 
the next morning he declined having any thing to 
do with it, alleging that his wife was with child ! 
Here it might be asked, are all the ingredients 
just mentioned necessary, in order to produce the 
wourali poison ? Though our opinions and conjec¬ 
tures may militate against the absolute necessity of 
