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 mixture of some
gummy juice was necessary. This Guapo soon prepared from the large
leaves of a tree called the "kiracaguero," and poured it into the
infusion; and then the curare turned from its yellow colour to black,
and was ready for use. The change of colour was produced by the
decomposition of a hydruret of carbon; the hydrogen was burned, and the
carbon set free.

Guapo now dipped a few of his arrows, and carefully deposited them in a
large 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 remainder of the liquid
he poured into a small gourd (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 fumes of the liquid might be injurious. This was long 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 companions that there was no danger, but
even tasted the curare from time to time while in the pan, in order to
judge 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 America are not all made from the creeping
plant, the mavacure. Among some 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," from a tree of the genus _Jacquinia_,
and a plant of the name "sarnango." Of all these the juice of the
_Ambihuasca_ is the most powerful ingredient, but the making of this
s