ol water looked to me like the very Elixir of Life. At that moment,
literally speaking, I was only two inches from death. Hearing a sharp
cry behind me I turned slightly to feel a rough hand upon my shoulders
and found myself flung backwards on the ground.

"Poison," was the reply to my angry question. Then my friend explained,
and as he talked my knees wobbled and I turned pale. It seems that
the Mangeromas often poison the streams below the drinking places
in order to get rid of their enemies. In the present case there
had been a rumour that a party of Peruvian rubber-workers might be
coming up the creek, and this is always a signal of trouble among
these Indians. Although you cannot induce a Brazilian to go into the
Indian settlements or _malocas_, the Peruvians are more than willing
to go there, because of the chance of abducting girls. To accomplish
this, a few Peruvians sneak close to the _maloca_ at night, force the
door, which is always bolted to keep out the Evil Spirit, but which
without difficulty can be cut open, and fire a volley of shots into
the hut. The Indians sleep with the blow-guns and arrows suspended
from the rafters, and before they can collect their sleepy senses
and procure the weapons the Peruvians, in the general confusion,
have carried off some of the girls. The Mangeromas, therefore, hate
the Peruvians and will go to any extreme to compass their death. The
poisoning of the rivers is effected by the root of a plant that is
found throughout the Amazon valley; the plant belongs to the genus
_Lonchocarpus_ and bears a small cluster of bluish blossoms which
produce a pod about two inches in length. It is only the yellow roots
that are used for poisoning the water. This is done by crushing the
roots and throwing the pulp into the stream, when all animal life
will be killed or driven away.

It seems strange that during my stay among the Mangeromas, who were
heathens and even cannibals, I saw no signs of idolatry. They believed
implicitly in a good and an evil spirit. The good spirit was too good
to do them any harm and consequently they did not bother with him;
but the evil spirit was more active and could be heard in the dark
nights, howling and wailing far off in the forest as he searched for
lonely wanderers, whom he was said to devour.

Thinking to amuse some of my friends, I one day kindled a flame by
means of my magnifying glass and a few dry twigs. A group of ten or
twelve Indians had gat