I have made no attempt to place the strata in the order of nature, for sufficient reasons. In the first class, there is no order in nature; there is none in the coal series. In the fifth class, the order of England is an order among varieties which are excluded by the arrangement. In the seventh, the same is true. I could gladly have extended the minute commentaries on some of the names; but that was inconsistent with the tabular form; and as I have now exceeded the prescribed bounds of this paper, I cannot venture to add them in any

manner.

Remarks on the Worari and Sirvatan.

CENTURIES have now elapsed since this dreaded weapon, which takes away life like a magic wand, without causing the slightest pang, became known to Europeans, in its effects at least. It is strange, therefore, that the subject should still remain involved in such profound mystery, with regard to the poison, the mavacuri plant, which affords it, and that instrument, the sirvatan or blow-pipe, through which it is propelled upon the victim.

The question, what plant affords the worari poison, involves, I presume, one of the most interesting inquiries in the whole department of natural history at the present day, and deserves from us a particular and attentive investigation.

Having examined the Mandavacs, Francisco and Domingo, two intelligent Indians, who were born and bred on the spot, of the tribe most famed for producing the most active worari, and who lived in the vicinity of the mountains which produce both the deadly poison and the instrument of its conveyance, I have received from them separately a most correct and satisfactory account of this affair.

These Indians stated, that, both for the mavacuri and sarsa, they go up the Siapo and contiguous streams, or about the mountains of Unturan and of Achivucary, as observed by Humboldt*.

*They persist that there is no sarsa in Cassiquiari nor in the Rio Negro.

They could give, however, no information respecting the flowers; but they know the plant well, and call it mavacuri; and they state, that it is of the gourd kind, or one of the cucurbitacea, of the size of a large orange, round, and having a hard shell or pericarp, which is used at times to contain the poison.

The mahwy, they say, is the plant of which they make the blow-pipe for projecting the arrow.

This plant, according to their representation, has large roundish leaves, is jointed, and has slight partitions, like those of the trumpet-tree, which they punch and clear away with long sticks of hard wood, fitted for the purpose. On further conversation with Domingo, it appears to be a species of palm, as, in respect to the texture, leaf and seed, he compares the different parts to the eta and camawari.

On showing him the small pigmy palm growing on the sands of Essequibo, he said it was the wahwy; exactly in respect to the stem; but not the leaf, as that is bifid, and that it was similarly jointed.

The lining tube is of the same material, a junior or smaller plant of the same kind.

In regard to the manufacture of the poison, Domingo and Francisco say, that they, in general, add nothing, though some, to thicken it, add the bark. They merely peel or scrape off the bark, and bruise it well in a mortar. The mass is then put into a funnel or cartocho made with wild plantain leaves, and having a little cotton at the bottom to strain it; plenty of cold water is poured over it; and they proceed in the same manner as in drawing the lixivium of ashes. This infusion is put into an earthen pot (that which is here called a buck-pot), and boiled down to a proper consistence.

This was related circumstantially by Domingo and Fran cisco, separately. They had no idea of the addition of other substances (ants, &c.), serving, in reality, only to dilute, and render the poison less active, as prescribed by the Indians living near our settlement, all of which are but inventions like those of the charlatans of Europe to throw mystery over the affair, and enhance the value of the art. It is very surprising that men of good sense, like Mr. Waterton and Mr. Hillhouse,

who, as I should suppose, have had opportunities of better information, should have the credulity to notice or respect such fictions.

The following extract from a letter of Mr. J. Forsyth will throw further light on the subject:

"I received your letter of the 30th ult. requesting a specimen of the worari vine. I am sorry it is not at present in flower; but I send you a small branch of it, and two other vines, called worarybally and courampoey, which the Indians use as auxiliaries to strengthen the former. You will also receive two small roots of the worari vine, which will grow if immediately planted; it will require a great proportion of sand mixed with the earth it is planted in, as it is found growing on sand hills.

"The mode of preparing the poison is as follows:-The inner bark or rind of the root (for it is the root only that is used) is scraped off into some vessel. The worarybally root undergoes the same process; but it is the vine itself of the courampoey that is used. To these, mixed together and well boiled down with some water, the Indians add some peppers, and further boil the whole mass to a thick syrup.

"This account of the process, I have had from the Indians; but they are to bring some of these roots, &c., and make the poison in my presence. I shall, therefore, have it in my power, I hope, hereafter, to give you a more accurate description of this process."

If such a thing does in reality exist in nature as a direct sedative, in the strictest sense of the term, I should imagine it to be this extraordinary vegetable extract. Its operation on the animal frame is most mysterious. It extinguishes the vital spark without a pang or a struggle, if prepared without any other substance being added, for the most efficient poison is prepared from the worari vine alone. The sensation and effect it produces are extremely analogous to those which arise from excessive bleeding; the animal, under its influence, sinking from existence in the most placid swoon.

On the Parima, amongst the tribes the most celebrated for the use of the worari, I was told, that salt and sugar were considered as the best antidotes to this poison. The same was stated

to M. de la Condamine, upon the Amazon; but afterwards, if I remember well, it was said to have been disproved by some experiments made in Germany.

I am, nevertheless, inclined to think, that some of the tribes do possess a secret antidote to the worari; for I was assured by the Portuguese, that the Indians of the Rio Negro are in the habit of shooting birds and monkeys with the worari, and afterwards resuscitating and transporting them to Para for sale. *This would be an interesting subject for a traveller to investigate. Could such an antidote be found, as to render the worari manageable, I feel a persuasion that it would put us in possession of a most important medicinal agent in convulsive disorders, as in tetanus and hydrophobia, and in diseases perhaps of an acute inflammatory nature.

> Does it kill by the privation of oxygen, the pabulum of the blood, and supporter of vitality?-If this were the modus operandi, by which it subverts the living power, its effects might possibly be restrained by inhaling the oxygenous gas, or by cautiously throwing oxygen into the veins.

Be this as it may, it is probable that the same principle belongs to very different plants. If so, an important discovery remains to be made that of ascertaining the proximate principle, which, acting on the nervous and vascular systems, proves so subversive of animal life.

JOHN HANCоск.

On a Method of Cultivating Plants in Walls, for Ornaments ; with a Catalogue of those which succeed under this treat

ment.

TO THE EDITOR.

DEAR SIR,

For these ten years past, and more, I have been intending to communicate to you, for the sake of such of your readers as it might interest, a species of improvement (if I may use this grandiloquous term for want of a better) in one department of ornamental horticulture, which I had put in practice in different places long before this; yet I have delayed it till I need

not delay it longer. I had thought that it might possibly be known to others as well as myself; and was unwilling to produce as a novelty what might not prove one; yet, having now communicated it to numerous persons, to all of whom it was unknown, and not having seen, in this country, a single attempt of the same nature, I suppose I may venture to presume that this notice will in reality present a novelty, and, slender as the fact is, a new source of ornament and amusement in a department which ought to despise nothing, since its sole ends are but amusement and ornament. The bare fact itself is known to every gardener, and even to botanists; but the application has been overlooked, or Art has neglected to profit by what Nature offers to its eyes every day.

I allude to the facility with which many plants, a great range, in fact, of even highly ornamental flowers, grow in or on walls; in many cases, even selecting them in preference, where the choice is left to themselves. And when I recall this familiar fact to horticultural readers, there are some who will, perhaps, immediately see the application here intended; but as none seem yet to have done that, I may be allowed to point it out.

In the ancient architectural gardens, masonry formed an essential ingredient; and, in a great measure also, it was necessary, that this masonry should be displayed, because it belonged to an architectural composition. We may regret, in passing, that the rage of innovation, too often hurrying from one fault to its opposite, has swept all this away; yet, though modern gardening has not only done this, but attempted to exclude all sight of such art, it cannot always and every where succeed. In many ancient establishments there are still subsisting remains at least of former ages, maintained through necessity or other causes, yet, in general, now producing only deformity, divested as they have been of all to which they once belonged, and, often, further associated with modern freedom, so as to produce effects scarcely less dissonant than would arise from an intermixture of modern and ancient fashions in dress. In other cases, walls are matter of necessity, for the mere purposes of defence or separation; or perhaps the wall of the fruit and kitchen-garden, unoccupied by fruit-trees, in