strength of a man. The first have erred by lending a too willing ear to
the marvellous, and believing assertions without sufficient proof. The
following short story points out the necessity of a cautious
examination:--

One day, on asking an Indian if he thought the poison would kill a man,
he replied that they always go to battle with it; that he was standing by
when an Indian was shot with a poisoned arrow, and that he expired almost
immediately. Not wishing to dispute this apparently satisfactory
information, the subject was dropped. However, about an hour after,
having purposely asked him in what part of the body the said Indian was
wounded, he answered without hesitation that the arrow entered betwixt
his shoulders, and passed quite through his heart. Was it the weapon, or
the strength of the poison, that brought on immediate dissolution in this
case? Of course the weapon.

The second have been misled by disappointment, caused by neglect in
keeping the poisoned arrows, or by not knowing how to use them, or by
trying inferior poison. If the arrows are not kept dry, the poison loses
its strength; and in wet or damp weather it turns mouldy, and becomes
quite soft. In shooting an arrow in this state, upon examining the place
where it has entered, it will be observed that, though the arrow has
penetrated deep into the flesh, still by far the greatest part of the
poison has shrunk back, and thus, instead of entering with the arrow, it
has remained collected at the mouth of the wound. In this case the arrow
might as well not have been poisoned. Probably, it was to this that a
gentleman, some time ago, owed his disappointment, when he tried the
poison on a horse in the town of Stabroek, the capital of Demerara; the
horse never betrayed the least symptom of being affected by it.

Wishful to obtain the best information concerning this poison, and as
repeated inquiries, in lieu of dissipating the surrounding shade, did but
tend more and more to darken the little light that existed, I determined
to penetrate into the country where the poisonous ingredients grow, where
this pernicious composition is prepared, and where it is constantly used.
Success attended the adventure; and the information acquired made amends
for one hundred and twenty days passed in the solitudes of Guiana, and
afforded a balm to the wounds and bruises which every traveller must
expect to receive who wanders through a thorny and obstructed pat