The first thing to be sought is the wourali vine (strychnos toxifera). It is closely allied to the tree which furnishes the well-known strychnine, in its coarser stages of preparation called nux vomica, or ratsbane. The upas tree, which furnishes the poison for the Dyak sumpitan arrows, belongs to the same genus. The wourali (spelt sometimes “oorara” or “curari”), though not very rare, is very local, and not easily discovered. It has a vine-like appearance, with a woody stem about three inches in diameter, covered with rough gray bark. The leaves are dark green, placed opposite each other, and of an oval form. The fruit is nearly as large as an apple, round, and smooth, with seeds imbedded in a bitter gummy pulp.
When the poison maker has found the wourali, he looks after two bulbous plants, containing a green and glutinous juice, and puts some of their stems into the quake. The third vegetable is a bitter root, which I believe to be the hyarri, a papilionaceous plant, which is largely used by the natives in poisoning the water when catching fish on a large scale. All parts of the hyarri are poisonous, but the root is the most powerful part of it. The natives take some of the root in their canoes, bale water over it, and pound it with their clubs. After allowing the water time to mix with the expressed juice, the fisherman throws it overboard, and in a few minutes every fish within a considerable distance comes floating to the surface perfectly helpless. One cubic foot of the hyarri will poison an acre of water, even among rapids, while a much less quantity is needed for creeks and still water. The poison has no effect on the flesh of the fish, which is perfectly wholesome.
The wourali and the hyarri are, in my opinion, the essential parts of the poison, the bulbous plants probably supplying the glutinous matter needed to make it adhere to the point of the weapon. But the poison maker is not content with vegetable substances, but presses the animal kingdom into his service.
He procures two kinds of ant, one the muniri (Ponera grandis), a huge, black creature, sometimes an inch in length, with a sting so venomous that it often produces a fever. One of these ants is in my collection, and its very look is venomous enough to warn any one against it. The other is the fire-ant (Myrmica sævissima), a tiny red insect, whose sting is just like the thrust of a redhot needle. Besides these he takes the poison fangs of the labarri and counacouchi snakes, two of the most venomous serpents of the country. These fangs are kept in store, as the native always kills these reptiles whenever he sees them, and extracts their poison fangs.
That these latter ingredients can have no effect in increasing the power of the poison I never doubted, and some years ago I expressed my opinion that they were not used at all, but merely collected as a blind, to prevent the secret of the poison being known. This opinion is corroborated by the researches of Dr. Herman Beigel, who analyzed some wourali poison taken from the same arrow with which the hedgehog was killed, and who ascertained that there was not a particle of bony or animal matter in the poison, but that it was wholly of a vegetable character. Moreover, there was no trace of red pepper, which is said to be one of the ingredients.
As far as the sense of taste goes, my own experience coincides with that of Dr. Beigel. I have tasted the poison, which is innocuous unless mixed directly with the blood, and found it to be intensely bitter, and rather aromatic. These two qualities are doubtless due to the strychnine of the wourali and to the hyarri. There was not the least flavor of red pepper.
All these ingredients being procured, the poison maker sets to work in a very systematic manner. He will not prepare the wourali in, or even near, his own house, but makes his preparations in the depth of the forest, where he builds a little hut especially for the purpose. His first care is to build a fire, and while it is burning up, he scrapes into a perfectly new pot a sufficient quantity of the wourali wood, adding to it the hyarri in proper proportion, and placing them in a sort of colander. Holding the colander and its contents over the pot, the Indian pours boiling water over them, and allows the decoction to drain into the vessel, when it looks something like coffee. When a sufficient quantity has been obtained, the bulbous roots are bruised and their juice squeezed into the pot, and, lastly, the snakes’ fangs and ants are pounded and thrown into the pot.
The vessel is now placed on the fire, which is kept up very gently, so as to allow the contents to simmer, rather than boil, and more wourali juice is added to supply the waste by evaporation. A scum is thrown up during the process, and carefully skimmed with a leaf, the boiling being continued until the poison is reduced to a thick dark brown syrup, about the consistence of treacle. According to some accounts, the seeds of the red pepper are used, not as adding to the strength of the poison, but as a test of its preparation being complete. When the native thinks that the poison is nearly ready, he throws into it a single seed of red pepper, which immediately begins to revolve. He then allows the boiling to proceed a little longer, and throws in another seed, which perhaps revolves, but more slowly; and he repeats this experiment until the seed remains stationary, which is accepted as a proof that the preparation is complete.
The Indian then takes a few arrows, dips them in the poison, and tries their effect upon some animal or bird, and, if satisfied with the effect, pours the poison into a new earthenware pot, ties a couple of leaves over the mouth, and a piece of wet hide over the leaves, so as to exclude both air and moisture, especially the latter. The little pots which are used for holding the wourali are nearly spherical, and about as large as an ordinary orange.
The above account of preparing the wourali poison is that which is furnished by the natives, but, as they have a definite object in keeping the mode of preparation secret, it cannot be absolutely relied upon. That there is a secret connected with its manufacture is evident from the fact that the Macoushie poison is acknowledged to be better and stronger than that which is manufactured by any other tribe, and that all the Guianan tribes are glad to purchase wourali from the Macoushies.