eceiving
the wound, lay themselves down to die. In the Montanas of Pangoa this
viper abounds more than in any other district, and never without
apprehension do the Cholos undertake their annual journey for the coca
harvest, as they fear to fall victims to the bite of this viper. The
warning sound of the rattlesnake is seldom heard in the hot Montanas,
and never in the higher regions.

Nature, who in almost all things has established an equilibrium,
supplies the natives with remedies against the bite of the serpent. One
of the cures most generally resorted to is the root of the amarucachu
(_Polianthes tuberosa_, L.), cut into slips and laid upon the wound.
Another is the juice of the creeping plant called vejuco de huaco
(_Mikania Huaco_, Kth.), which is already very widely celebrated. This
latter remedy was discovered by the negroes of the equatorial province,
Choco. They remarked that a sparrow-hawk, called the _huaco_, picked up
snakes for its principal food, and when bitten by one it flew to the
vejuco and ate some of the leaves. At length the Indians thought of
making the experiment on themselves, and when bitten by serpents they
drank the expressed juice of the leaves of the vejuco, and constantly
found that the wound was thereby rendered harmless. The use of this
excellent plant soon became general; and in some places the belief of
the preservative power of the vejuco juice was carried so far that men
in good health were inoculated with it. In this process some spoonfuls
of the expressed fluid are drunk, and afterwards some drops are put into
incisions made in the hands, feet, and breast. The fluid is rubbed into
the wounds by fresh vejuco leaves. After this operation, according to
the testimony of persons worthy of credit, the bite of the poisonous
snake fails for a long time to have any evil effect. Besides the two
plants mentioned above, many others are used with more or less favorable
results. The inhabitants of the Montana also resort to other means,
which are too absurd to be detailed here; yet their medicines are often
of benefit, for their operation is violently reactive. They usually
produce the effect of repeated emetics, and cause great perspiration.
There is much difference in the modes of external treatment of the
wound, and burning is often employed. I saw an Indian apply to his
wife's foot, which had been bitten, a plaster, consisting of moist
gunpowder, pulverised sulphur, and finely-chopped tobacc