Abstract
IN this pamphlet the author describes the researches made by himself and by his brother, Sir Robert Schomburgk, into the modes of preparation of urari. Although an arrow-poison is prepared by a number of Indian tribes in Guiana, and between the Amazon River and the Orinoco, yet that prepared by the Macusi Indians is much stronger, and other tribes come very long distances in order to obtain it. This greater strength is thought by the author to depend upon the use by the Macusi Indians of the Strychnos toxifera. The bark of this plant contains all the properties of the urari, and the Macusi Indians add to it a number of other substances. With great difficulty the author prevailed upon an old urari-maker to show him the process of preparing the poison. The ingredients were—bark of Strychnos toxifera, 2 lbs.; from Yakki (Strychnos schomburgkii), ¼ lb.; Arimaru (Strychnos cogens), ¼ lb.; Wakarimo, ¼ lb.; the root of Tarireng, ½ oz.; the root of Tararemu, ½ oz.; the fleshy root of Muramu (Cissus spec.); four small pieces of wood of a tree of the species of Xanthoxyleæ, called Manuca. (Manuca is the strong bitter wood of a tree of the Xanthoxyleæ. The bark and the root are used as an effective remedy against syphilitic sickness on the Rio Negro, Amazon, and Rio Branco.)
On the Urari, the Deadly Arrow-poison of the Macusis.
By Richard Schomburgk 4to. Pp. 18. (Adelaide: E. Spiller.)
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Our Book Shelf . Nature 21, 560 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021560a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021560a0