After the Otomacs of Uruana take niopo (their tree-tobacco), or their fermented liquors, they fall into a drunken stupor lasting days on end, and they kill each other without using weapons. The most vicious put poisonous curare on a fingernail, and according to the missionary a scratch from this fingernail can kill if the curare is very active. At night, after a brawl, when they murder someone they chuck the corpse into the river in case signs of violence can be seen on the body. 'Each time, Father Bueno said, 'I see women fetching water from a part of the river bank that is not their usual place I guess that someone has been murdered.

As we approached La Laguna the air cooled. This sensation delighted us as we found the air in Santa Cruz asphyxiating. As we tend to feel disagreeable sensations more strongly, we felt the change in temperature more as we returned from La Laguna to the port, as if we were approaching the mouth of a furnace.