eautiouflys would be fatally convinced of 
their ability to deftroy. This happy ex- 
emption is attributed by the people them- 
felves to the prefervative effects of certain 
vegetables, the knowledge of which has 
hitherto been carefully concealed. Many 
of the European philofophers have, how- 
ever, treated the affair as a mere juggle. 
This ttate of uncertainty is now, happily 
for humanity and {cience, relieved by the 
moit important communication from Don 
Pepro p’OrBIEs ¥ VaAnGAs, through 
the medium of Count RumForD, which, 
if entirely to be depended upon, will en- 
title the communicator torank high among 
the benefactors of mankind. Don Pedro 
is a native of Santa-Fé, and, in the year 
4738, being at Margarita, he met witha 
> flave who poffefled the power of charming 
the moft venomous of the American fer- 
pents: after the Negro had exhibited his 
fkill, he was induced by a reward to pro- 
 mife to difcover his fecret. The -next 
morning he returned with the leaves of a 
plant, called vejuco du guaco, and having 
bruiied them, in the prefence of Don Pe- 
dro, gave him two large fpoonfuls of the 
Juice to drink ; then making three inci- 
fians between the fingers of each hand, he 
imoculated the Spaniard with the fame 
juice, and performed a fimilar operation 
on each foot, and on each fide of the breaft, 
after which he informed him that he was 
no longer acceffible to the poifon of fer- 
pents. Don Pedro then, after making 
the Negro an{werable for any ill confe- 
quences, took into his hands feveral times 
one of the ferpents that had been brought 
by the flave the day before, without re- 
ceiving the fmalleft injury from the ani- 
mal. Encouraged by this firft attempt, 
two domettics, being in like manner pre- 
pared by the guaco-juice, went into the 
fields, and foon returned with another kind 
of ferpent, equally venomous with the for- 
mer, without fuftaining any hurt ; another 
perfon, being fimilarly prepared, and af- 
terwards bitten by a potfonous ferpent, 
received no further injury than a flight 
local inflammation. Since this period, 
Don Pedro has repeatedly caught ferpents 
with his own hands with abfolute impu- 
nity, employing no further preparation 
than merely drinking a little of the guaco- 
juice. The plant, whofe effeéts are thus 
attefted, has not as yet been admitted into 
any botanical fyftem, but is amply defcrib- 
ed in a memoir by the Spanifi gentleman 
already mentioned, inferted in a weekly 
paper publifhed at Santa-Fé. It is of the 
ni 
+ 
Literary and Philfophical Intelligence, 
[May 1, 
compound-flowered or fyngenefious clafs. 
The ftamina are five in number, united by 
their anthers into a cylinder, through 
which rifes the piftill with a deeply divided 
fummit. The corolla is monopetalous, 
infundibuliform, with five indentations. 
and of a yellow colour; each calix contains 
four florets, and feveral of thefe grow to- 
gether, forming a corymbus: the feeds, 
are broad and feathered: the root is 
fibrous, perennial ; the ftem ftratght, cy= 
lindrical when ycung, but, when old, be- 
comes pentagonal : leaves are heart-fhaped, 
oppofite, of a dark-green mixed with vio-~ 
ler, velvetty on the upper furface. It 
grows by the fides of rivulets, and in 
a) places, in the viceroyalty of Santa- 
Z 4 | 
A letter from Citizen Martin, dated 
Cayenne, the 7th of Frimaire laft, contains 
fome fatisfactory details relative to the 
culture of the fpices; he only waits for 
the favourable feafon to make fome at- 
tempts in that of the pepper-plant. Ci- 
tizen Hucues, the Government Agent, 
has lately granted him a piece of ground 
for this purpofe. He is endeavouring to 
diftinguifh what trees are the moft proper 
to ferve for tutors to the pepper-trees, 
giving the preference to thofe, which, as 
being fufceptible of multiplying . from 
flips, have a thick fpongy bark, and 
which, rifing to but little height, have 
ftill a long duration. ~But this is not the 
only refult which he is fecking to obtain 
from thefe experiments.. The Ifle of 
Cayenne is’the firft ifland which has been 
cultivated in this colony; its foil, in 
many. places, appears to be exhaulted, and 
they are obliged to let it reft, before other 
plants can be committed to it, with any. 
hope of fuccefs; befides this inconve- 
nience, it is expofed to a fcourge much 
more defiruétive to the plantations; this 
is the ants, who ravage and devour every 
thing ; in fome places it is impoffible to 
uard againft them, and large quantities’ 
of land have been abandoned to thofe in- 
fects. But fince the introduction of the 
pepper-tree, it has been obferved that 
they do not touch the leaves of this fhrub ; 
fome plants fcattered in the habitations 
have been refpected by them. Should this ~ 
faé&t be confirmed by large plantations, 
the foil of the ifland will be renewed. fuc- 
ceffively, and its produét will increafe in 
the fame proportion. Citizen Martin has 
been trying to lay layers of the female- 
nutmeg-tree. If the operation fucceeds, 
it will be, doubtlefs, the fureft and moft 
a expeditious 
— 
