show that life was still within him, except that
his heart faintly beat and fluttered at intervals. In five-and-twenty
minutes from the time of his being wounded he was quite dead. His flesh
was very sweet and savoury at dinner.

On taking a retrospective view of the two different kinds of poisoned
arrows, and the animals destroyed by them, it would appear that the
quantity of poison must be proportioned to the animal, and thus those
probably labour under an error who imagine that the smallest particle of
it introduced into the blood has almost instantaneous effects.

Make an estimate of the difference in size betwixt the fowl and the ox,
and then weigh a sufficient quantity of poison for a blowpipe arrow with
which the fowl was killed, and weigh also enough poison for three
wild-hog arrows which destroyed the ox, and it will appear that the fowl
received much more poison in proportion than the ox. Hence the cause why
the fowl died in five minutes and the ox in five-and-twenty.

Indeed, were it the case that the smallest particle of it introduced into
the blood has almost instantaneous effects, the Indian would not find it
necessary to make the large arrow; that of the blowpipe is much easier
made and requires less poison.

And now for the antidotes, or rather the supposed antidotes. The Indians
tell you, that if the wounded animal be held for a considerable time up
to the mouth in water, the poison will not prove fatal; also that the
juice of the sugar-cane poured down the throat will counteract the
effects of it. These antidotes were fairly tried upon full-grown healthy
fowls, but they all died, as though no steps had been taken to preserve
their lives. Rum was recommended and given to another, but with as
little success.

It is supposed by some that wind introduced into the lungs by means of a
small pair of bellows would revive the poisoned patient, provided the
operation be continued for a sufficient length of time. It may be so;
but this is a difficult and a tedious mode of cure, and he who is wounded
in the forest far away from his friends, or in the hut of the savages,
stands but a poor chance of being saved by it.

Had the Indians a sure antidote, it is likely they would carry it about
with them, or resort to it immediately after being wounded, if at hand;
and their confidence in its efficacy would greatly diminish the horror
they betray when you point a poisoned arrow at them.

One day, while we w