Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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If Salt Or Sugar Be
Employed In These Cases, People Are Tempted To Regard Them As
Excellent Specifics.
Indians, who had been wounded in battle by
weapons dipped in the curare, described to us the symptoms they
experienced, which were entirely similar to those observed in the bite
of serpents.
The wounded person feels congestion in the head, vertigo,
and nausea. He is tormented by a raging thirst, and numbness pervades
all the parts that are near the wound.
The old Indian, who was called the poison-master, seemed flattered by
the interest we took in his chemical processes. He found us
sufficiently intelligent to lead him to the belief that we knew how to
make soap, an art which, next to the preparation of curare, appeared
to him one of the finest of human inventions. When the liquid poison
had been poured into the vessels prepared for their reception, we
accompanied the Indian to the festival of the juvias. The harvest of
juvias, or fruits of the Bertholletia excelsa,* (* The Brazil-nut.)
was celebrated by dancing, and by excesses of wild intoxication. The
hut where the natives were assembled, displayed during several days a
very singular aspect. There was neither table nor bench; but large
roasted monkeys, blackened by smoke, were ranged in regular order
against the wall. These were the marimondes (Ateles belzebuth), and
those bearded monkeys called capuchins, which must not be confounded
with the weeper, or sai (Simia capucina of Buffon). The manner of
roasting these anthropomorphous animals contributes to render their
appearance extremely disagreeable in the eyes of civilized man. A
little grating or lattice of very hard wood is formed, and raised one
foot from the ground. The monkey is skinned, and bent into a sitting
posture; the head generally resting on the arms, which are meagre and
long; but sometimes these are crossed behind the back. When it is tied
on the grating, a very clear fire is kindled below. The monkey,
enveloped in smoke and flame, is broiled and blackened at the same
time. On seeing the natives devour the arm or leg of a roasted monkey,
it is difficult not to believe that this habit of eating animals so
closely resembling man in their physical organization, has, to a
certain degree, contributed to diminish the horror of cannibalism
among these people. Roasted monkeys, particularly those which have
very round heads, display a hideous resemblance to a child; and
consequently Europeans who are obliged to feed on them prefer
separating the head and the hands, and serve up only the rest of the
animal at their tables. The flesh of monkeys is so lean and dry, that
M. Bonpland has preserved in his collections at Paris an arm and hand,
which had been broiled over the fire at Esmeralda; and no smell has
arisen from them after the lapse of a great number of years.
We saw the Indians dance. The monotony of their dancing is increased
by the women not daring to take part in it.
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