st, and the unwearied attention and kindness of
the Portuguese commander, stopped the progress of the fever, and enabled
me to walk about in six days.

Fort St. Joachim was built about five-and-forty years ago, under the
apprehension, it is said, that the Spaniards were coming from the Rio
Negro to settle there. It has been much neglected; the floods of water
have carried away the gate, and destroyed the wall on each side of it;
but the present commander is putting it into thorough repair. When
finished, it will mount six nine- and six twelve-pounders.

In a straight line with the fort, and within a few yards of the river,
stand the commander's house, the barracks, the chapel, the father
confessor's house, and two others, all at little intervals from each
other; and these are the only buildings at Fort St. Joachim. The
neighbouring extensive plains afford good pasturage for a fine breed of
cattle, and the Portuguese make enough of butter and cheese for their own
consumption.

On asking the old officer if there were such a place as Lake Parima, or
El Dorado, he replied, he looked upon it as imaginary altogether. "I
have been above forty years," added he, "in Portuguese Guiana, but have
never yet met with anybody who has seen the lake."

So much for Lake Parima, or El Dorado, or the White Sea. Its existence
at best seems doubtful; some affirm that there is such a place, and
others deny it.

"Grammatici certant, et adhuc sub judice lis est."

Having now reached the Portuguese inland frontier, and collected a
sufficient quantity of the wourali-poison, nothing remains but to give a
brief account of its composition, its effects, its uses, and its supposed
antidotes.

It has been already remarked that in the extensive wilds of Demerara and
Essequibo, far away from any European settlement, there is a tribe of
Indians who are known by the name of Macoushi.

Though the wourali-poison is used by all the South American savages
betwixt the Amazons and the Oroonoque, still this tribe makes it stronger
than any of the rest. The Indians in the vicinity of the Rio Negro are
aware of this, and come to the Macoushi country to purchase it.

Much has been said concerning this fatal and extraordinary poison. Some
have affirmed that its effects are almost instantaneous, provided the
minutest particle of it mixes with the blood; and others again have
maintained that it is not strong enough to kill an animal of the size and