You see what effect that
much had. I trust that answers your question?"
Dr. Leslie was too overwhelmed to reply.
"What is this deadly poison that was used on Mendoza?" I managed
to ask.
"You have been fortunate enough to obtain a sample of it from the
Museum of Natural History," returned Craig. "It comes in a little
gourd, or often a calabash. This is in a gourd. It is a blackish,
brittle stuff, incrusting the sides of the gourd just as if it was
poured in in the liquid state and left to dry. Indeed, that is
just what has been done by those who manufacture it after a
lengthy and somewhat secret process."
He placed the gourd on the edge of the table, where we could see
it closely. I was almost afraid even to look at it.
"The famous traveller, Sir Robert Schomburgk, first brought it
into Europe, and Darwin has described it. It is now an article of
commerce, and is to be found in the United States Pharmacoepia as
a medicine, though, of course, it is used in only very minute
quantities, as a heart stimulant."
Craig opened a book to a place he had marked. "Here's an account
of it," he said. "Two natives were one day hunting. They were
armed with blow-pipes and quivers full of poisoned darts made of
thin, charred pieces of bamboo, tipped with this stuff.
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