The matter was ended with this wise judgment, and there seemed to be no disposition to grumble or re-appeal to the great authority.

My life among the Mangeromas was, for the greater part, free from adventure, at least as compared with former experiences, and yet I was more than once within an inch of meeting death.  In fact, I think that I looked more squarely in the eyes of death in that peaceful little community than ever I did out in the wilds of the jungle or in my most perilous adventures.  The creek that ran near the maloca supplied the Indians with what water they needed for drinking purposes.  Besides this the creek gave them an abundant supply of fish, a dish that made its appearance at every meal.  Whatever washing was to be done—­the natives took a bath at least twice a day—­was done at some distance down the creek so as not to spoil the water for drinking and culinary purposes.  Whenever I was thirsty I was in the habit of stooping down at the water’s edge to scoop the fluid up in my curved hands.  One morning I had been tramping through the jungle with two companions who were in search of game, and I was very tired and hot when we came to a little stream which I took to be the same that ran past the maloca.  My friends were at a short distance from me, beating their way through the underbrush, when I stooped to quench my thirst.  The cool water looked to me like the very Elixir of Life.  At that moment, literally speaking, I was only two inches from death.  Hearing a sharp cry behind me I turned slightly to feel a rough hand upon my shoulders and found myself flung backwards on the ground.

“Poison,” was the reply to my angry question.  Then my friend explained, and as he talked my knees wobbled and I turned pale.  It seems that the Mangeromas often poison the streams below the drinking places in order to get rid of their enemies.  In the present case there had been a rumour that a party of Peruvian rubber-workers might be coming up the creek, and this is always a signal of trouble among these Indians.  Although you cannot induce a Brazilian to go into the Indian settlements or malocas, the Peruvians are more than willing to go there, because of the chance of abducting girls.  To accomplish this, a few Peruvians sneak close to the maloca at night, force the door, which is always bolted to keep out the Evil Spirit, but which without difficulty can be cut open, and fire a volley of shots into the hut.  The Indians sleep with the blow-guns and arrows suspended from the rafters, and before they can collect their sleepy senses and procure the weapons the Peruvians, in the general confusion, have carried off some of the girls.  The Mangeromas, therefore, hate the Peruvians and will go to any extreme to compass their death.  The poisoning of the rivers is effected by the root of a plant that is found throughout the Amazon valley; the plant belongs to the genus Lonchocarpus and bears a small cluster of bluish blossoms which produce a pod about two inches in length.  It is only the yellow roots that are used for poisoning the water.  This is done by crushing the roots and throwing the pulp into the stream, when all animal life will be killed or driven away.