Part 34 (1/2)

THE POISONED ARROWS

The result of the tapir chase determined Guapo to have himself better armed There was one weapon--and a very efficient one too--which he kne both to un, sometimes called ”pocuna” He had had an eye to this weapon all along, and had already provided theit These materials were of a varied character, and had cost hiether

First, then, for the blow-tube itself he had cut stems of a slender palm-tree, a species of _Iriartea_, but not that sort already described

It was the _Pashi+uba ht of from twelve to twenty feet, and is never thicker than a enus, rise above the ground, but only a few inches The stems which Guapo had chosen were of different sizes One was about the thickness of the handle of a garden-rake, while the other was not over the dia-cane Both were hollow in the heart, or rather they contained pith like the alder-tree, which when forced out left a sth of about ten feet, and pushed out the pith, Guapo inserted the shtly all the way--for he had chosen it of the proper thickness to this end The object of thus using two stems instead of one will not, at first, be understood It was for the purpose of ht, as this is a ravatana The outer and stronger steht be in the inner one, and they were carefully arranged so that the one should straighten the other

Had it not been perfectly straight, Guapo would have bound it to a post and ht without further trouble The tube of the lesser one was now cleaned out thoroughly, and polished by a little bunch of the roots of a tree-fern, until it was as smooth and hard as ebony A mouthpiece of as placed at the slued on the outside This ”sight” was the tooth of an ani incisors of a rodent animal called the ”paca,” which is found in most parts of tropical America To h shi+ning bark of a creeping plant, which he wound spirally around the outside froravatana was finished

There was yet much to be done before it could be used Arroere to be made, and a quiver in which to carry them, and poison to dip their points in--for the arrows of the blow-gun do not kill by the wound they inflict, but by the poison hich they are charged

The next thing, then, to which Guapo turned his attention was the manufacture of the arrows These can be made of cane, reeds, and other kinds of wood; but the bestspines of the patawa palrow out fro trees and thoseit a very shaggy appearance They are often three feet in length, about as thick as large wire, rather flattish, and of a black colour To th of fifteen or eighteen inches, and then pointed them sharply at one end About three inches from the points he notched them all, so that they would break in the wound rather than drop out again, in consequence of the struggles of the animal

About two or three inches frohtly around the shaft some strands of the soft silky cotton, which he had procured froreat ”ceiba,” or silk-cotton tree, already mentioned This he fastened on with a fibre of an aloe plant--one of the _bromelias_; and the cotton, when thus secured, assuer end towards the butt of the arrow When inserted into the gravatana, the swell of the cotton filled the tube exactly,--not so tightly as to ie of the arrow, nor so loosely as to allow of ”windage” when blown upon through the mouthpiece

The arroere now ready, with the exception of the poison for their tips; and this was the un and arroould have been useless weapons, indeed But Guapo was just the man who kne to make this poison, and that is more than could be said of every Indian, for it is only the ”piaches” (priests, or ”medicine-men”) who understand the process Nay, more, there are even some tribes where not an individual kno the arrow-poison is made; and these have to procure it by barter froreat 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 natius--but it is perfectly harmless when sed, and, indeed, it is often taken by the Indians as an excellent stoet into the blood, however, by means of an arroound, 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 frohtly wounded, or lightly inoculated with it Let us see, then, how Guapo prepared this deadly one 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 hi-oval shape, sharp at the points, and of a whittish-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 alburnu away The mixture of bark and alburnum was next placed upon a smooth stone, and athered into a heap, and placed within a funnel, which had already beennarrow 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 the curare was ready for the arrows It was sufficiently concentrated and deadly, but still too thin to adhere properly to their tips, and for this purpose a ume leaves of a tree called the ”kiracaguero,” and poured it into the infusion; and then the curare turned froe of colour was produced by the decoen was burned, and the carbon set free

Guapo now dipped a few of his arrows, and carefully deposited thee joint of bamboo, which served as a quiver I say _carefully_, for had one of these arrows dropped with its poisoned point upon his naked foot, or wounded him elsewhere, he never would have prepared any more curare But he handled them with care, and the reourd (similar to that in which he carried his coca-lime), which he closely corked up with a piece of the pith from a palm

Don Pablo, with Dona Isidora and the children, had watched with interest all this process At first, they were afraid to go near, believing that the fu believed to be the case, in consequence of the absurd tales spread abroad by the old missionaries, and even at a later period by the traveller La Condamine

These asserted, that when the Indians wished to make the curare poison, they selected for this purpose the old women of the tribe, whose lives were not deemed of any value; and that several of these always fell a sacrifice while ”cooking” the curare!

This silly story is now refuted; and Guapo not only assured his coer, but even tasted the curare froe when it was sufficiently concentrated This he could tell by its taste, as it grew more and more bitter as the evaporation proceeded The arrow-poisons of South A plant, thesome Indian tribes a root is used called ”curare de raiz;” and with others the poison is produced by a mixture of several species of juices from the plant _Ambihuasca_, tobacco, red pepper, a bark called ”barbasco,” froenus _Jacquinia_, and a plant of the nao” Of all these the juice of the _A of this species of poison is aan opportunity to test his gravatana, and this was just what he desired, for the old Indian was not a little vain of his skill, and he wished to make a show of it in the eyes of his companions His vanity, however, was the more pardonable, as he was in reality a first-rate shot, which he proved to the satisfaction of everybody within half-an-hour The instrument had scarcely been finished and laid aside, when a loud screa up a flock of large birds was seen flying over the heavens They were still high up, but all of a sudden they darted down together and alit on a tall tree that stood nearly alone

Here they continued their chattering, only in a lower and , but cli about, sometimes with their backs and heads turned doard, and, in short, clinging to the branches in every iinable way These birds were all of one kind, each of theth, and of a uniforo--their beaks only being white In the sun their plulistened with a metallic lustre They were, in fact, a rare species,--the _ana_, or _purple ravatana and arrows, and stole off through the underwood towards the tree upon which the macaws had perched In a few minutes he stood under it, screened from the view of the birds by the broad leaves of a plantain that happened to grow beneath This cover was necessary, else the ht have uttered one of their wild, choral screams, and flown off

They did not, however, and Guapo had a fair chance at them All his movements could be observed by the party at the house, as he was on that side of the plantain