tance from the camp, in which to concoct the mixture. He had placed
there the various ingredients he had collected. The first was composed
of several bunches of the woorali vine; another was a root with a sharp,
bitter taste. Besides these there were two bulbous plants, which
contained a green and glutinous juice. He had also collected two
species of ants: one large and black, with a sharp, venomous sting; the
other a little red ant, which stings like the nettle. Having scraped
the woorali vine and bitter root into thin shavings, he put them into a
sieve made of leaves, which he held over a bowl, and poured water on
them: a thick liquor came through, having the appearance of coffee. He
then produced the bulbous plants, and squeezed a portion of the juice
into the pot, adding the dried ants, as well as the pounded fangs of two
venomous snakes. Clearing everything away, he made a fire in the centre
of the hut, and pouring the mixture into the saucepan, he boiled it
slowly for some hours. The scum was then taken off, when the liquid had
become reduced to thick syrup of a deep brown colour. He now told me
that it was fit for use; and his darts being ready, he dipped them into
it, as he did also several large arrows, and the points of some of our
spears. The remainder he poured off into some small gourds, which he
covered carefully over with leaves, and hung up in the hut.

"Now!" he said, "we are prepared for any enemies who may come near us;
and we may be sure that we shall be able to procure as much game as we
can desire."

The last thing to be done was to cleanse the saucepan. He first boiled
water in it several times, throwing each quantity away; he then scraped
it with his knife all over, and rubbed it again and again with leaves,
till, pronouncing it to be perfectly free from the slightest particle of
poison, he took it to the skipper, who examined it with a suspicious
eye. I told him all that I had seen done, and at last he seemed
satisfied that no one would be the worse for food cooked in it.

By this time a number of hammers had been formed, and no less than four
axes. Maco and Polo, working under water, had sharpened them by means
of some other hard stone which they found in the stream. For this
purpose each of them dug a hole on the shore of the lake, into which
they let the water, and seated over it performed the whole operation
under the surface. I reminded them of the huge alligator I had seen.