This was the only position I could have held him in with safety
and effect. To do so it only required a little resolution and coolness. I
then took a small piece of stick in the other hand and pressed it against
the fang, which is invariably in the upper jaw. Towards the point of the
fang there is a little oblong aperture on the convex side of it. Through
this there is a communication down the fang to the root, at which lies a
little bag containing the poison. Now, when the point of the fang is
pressed, the root of the fang also presses against the bag, and sends up a
portion of the poison therein contained. Thus, when I applied a piece of
stick to the point of the fang, there came out of the hole a liquor thick
and yellow, like strong camomile-tea. This was the poison which is so
dreadful in its effects as to render the labarri-snake one of the most
poisonous in the forests of Guiana. I once caught a fine labarri and made
it bite itself. I forced the poisonous fang into its belly. In a few
minutes I thought it was going to die, for it appeared dull and heavy.
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