54 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIRST 
JOURNEY. 
Descrip¬ 
tion of the 
blow¬ 
pipe. 
course to the raiment of the owl, because it resorts 
to the tombs and mausoleums of the dead, and wails 
and hovers about at the time that the rest of animated 
nature sleeps ; certainly the savage may imagine that 
the ants, whose sting causes a fever, and the teeth of 
the Labarri and Counacouchi snakes, which convey 
death in a very short space of time, are essentially 
necessary in the composition of his poison; and being 
once impressed with this idea, he will add them every 
time he makes the poison, and transmit the absolute 
use of them to his posterity. The question to be 
answered seems not to be, if it is natural for the 
Indians to mix these ingredients, but, if they are 
essential to make the poison. 
So much for the preparing of this vegetable 
essence; terrible importer of death, into whatever 
animal it enters. Let us now see how it is used; let 
ns examine the weapons which bear it to its destina¬ 
tion, and take a view of the poor victim, from the time 
he receives his wound, till death comes to his relief. 
When a native of Macoushia goes in quest of 
feathered game or other birds, he seldom carries his 
bow and arrows. It is the blow-pipe he then uses. 
This extraordinary tube of death is, perhaps, one of 
the greatest natural curiosities of Guiana. It is not 
found in the country of the Macoushi. Those 
Indians tell you that it grows to the south-west of 
them, in the wilds which extend betwixt them and 
the Rio Negro. The reed must grow to an amazing 
length, as the part the Indians use is from ten to 
eleven feet long, and no tapering can be perceived in 
