de;
and these have to procure it by barter from others, paying a high price,
and sometimes going a great distance for it.

This celebrated poison is known under different names, but those of
"curare", "ticuna," and "wouraly," are the principal.

It is one of the most deadly poisons yet discovered--as much so as the
_upastiente_ of Java, or the bean of Saint Ignatius--but it is perfectly
harmless when swallowed, and, indeed, it is often taken by the Indians
as an excellent stomachic. Should it get into the blood, however, by
means of an arrow-wound, or a sore, no remedy has yet been discovered
that will cure it. Death is certain, and a death similar to that caused
by the bite of a venomous serpent. So say those who have suffered from
it, but recovered on account of their having been only slightly wounded,
or lightly inoculated with it. Let us see, then, how Guapo prepared
this deadly mixture.

He had gone out to the forest, and returned carrying a bundle of slender
rods. They were pieces of a lliana, or creeping plant. It was the
_bejuco de curare_, or "mavacure," as it is sometimes called. The
leaves he had stripped off, and left behind as useless. Had he brought
them with him, they would have been seen to be small leaves of an
oblong-oval shape, sharp at the points, and of a whitish-green colour.
Don Pablo knew the plant to be a species of _Strychnos_.

Guapo with his knife first scraped all the bark, as well as the alburnum
or white coating, from the rods, which last he flung away. The mixture
of bark and alburnum was next placed upon a smooth stone, and mashed
into a fibre of a yellowish colour. This done, it was gathered into a
heap, and placed within a funnel, which had already been made out of a
plantain-leaf. The funnel was a long narrow cone, and to strengthen it,
it was set within another funnel made of the thick leaf of the "bussu"
palm, and then both were supported by a framework of palm fibres.
Underneath the apex was placed a small pan--which could afterwards be
put over the fire--and then cold water was thrown into the funnel along
with the bark. A yellowish liquid soon commenced to filter and drip
into the pan, and this liquid was the _curare_, the arrow-poison. It
still required, however, to be concentrated by evaporation; and for this
purpose the pan was transferred to a slow fire, where it was kept until
the liquid became thickened by the heat.

Another process was yet required before