68 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIRST 
•TOUNRE 
Life ought, if possible, to be preserved, be the ex¬ 
pense ever so great. Should the part affected admit 
of it, let a ligature be tied tight round the wound, and 
have immediate recourse to the knife: 
“Continuo, culpam ferro compesce priusquam, 
Dira per infaustum serpant contagia corpus.” 
And now, kind reader, it is time to bid thee fare¬ 
well. The two ends proposed have been obtained. 
The Portuguese inland frontier fort has been reached, 
and the Macoushi wourali poison acquired. The 
account of this excursion through the interior of 
Guiana has been submitted to thy perusal, in order 
to induce thy abler genius to undertake a more ex¬ 
tensive one. If any difficulties have arisen, or fevers 
come on, they have been caused by the periodical 
rains, which fall in torrents as the sun approaches 
the tropic of Cancer. In dry weather there would 
be no difficulties or sickness. 
Amongst the many satisfactory conclusions which 
thou wouldst be able to draw during the journey, 
there is one which, perhaps, would please thee not a 
little; and that is with regard to dogs. Many a 
time, no doubt, thou hast heard it hotly disputed, 
that dogs existed in Guiana previously to the arrival 
of the Spaniards in those parts. Whatever the 
Spaniards introduced, and which bore no resem¬ 
blance to any thing the Indians had been accustomed 
to see, retains its Spanish name to this day. 
Thus the Warrow, the Arowack, the Acoway, the 
Macoushi, and Carib tribes, call a hat, sombrero; 
a shirt, or any kind of cloth, camisa; a shoe, zapato ; 
