Chronicles Of The Jungle
by Charles Brewer-Carías
Part 2
by Charles Brewer-Carías
Part 2
Naturalist, explorer and a Polymath, he is the author of thirteen books on Venezuelan nature and designer of the survival knife "Brewer-Marto", which is used by various armies around the world.
Since 1960, Brewer-Carías when he lived among and learned the language of the Makiritare Indians (Ye´kwana), he has dedicated himself to exploring the jungle and thanks to his experience and the knowledge he has gathered from the Ye´kwana and the Yanomamö Indians with whom he has lived; He has prepared a book on Survival Techniques titled “Naked in the Jungle”, of which he has promised to deliver a weekly article for HOLIDAY for two years. This is another one of them
Since 1960, Brewer-Carías when he lived among and learned the language of the Makiritare Indians (Ye´kwana), he has dedicated himself to exploring the jungle and thanks to his experience and the knowledge he has gathered from the Ye´kwana and the Yanomamö Indians with whom he has lived; He has prepared a book on Survival Techniques titled “Naked in the Jungle”, of which he has promised to deliver a weekly article for HOLIDAY for two years. This is another one of them
THE POISON OF THE ANT
It was not like the pain of scorpion stings or wasps that feels cold and slippery like a splinter of glass and then fades away in minutes. No, this pain stayed the same. Desperately the same and it made me want to roll on the floor as the Indians told.
After half an hour, the pain hadn't subsided. Also, the uncertainty of what might happen to me later was what distressed me the most. Would it take me twenty-four hours for her to calm down? Is it possible that the pain increases so much that I cannot resist it and have to cut my finger, as others claimed?
I was stepping on my finger with my foot. I would sit up, walk, and sit down again. It seemed like a cycle. I didn't quite understand what those indians around me wanted to say to me and strangely, I could hardly contain myself from the urge to throw myself to the ground and roll over on the ground, as if that would ease the pain.
After about three hours, the pain had already spread up my arm and settled in the hardened nodes in the armpit; but I was struck by the fact that there was no swollen point on the finger that would mark the exact place where the stinger had entered. If the finger looked red, it was due to the stomping he had given it.
Later, the pressure in the arm and especially in the armpit, began to subside. I remember that this did not seem like a relief, but as if what I had initially felt in my arm was being distributed proportionally throughout my body. I was exhausted and I began to wait for the onset of the fever, which, as the name of the ant indicates, would last me twenty-four hours. After about five hours all local pain had stopped, although the swelling in the armpit and the heaviness of the arm continued until the next day.
After half an hour, the pain hadn't subsided. Also, the uncertainty of what might happen to me later was what distressed me the most. Would it take me twenty-four hours for her to calm down? Is it possible that the pain increases so much that I cannot resist it and have to cut my finger, as others claimed?
I was stepping on my finger with my foot. I would sit up, walk, and sit down again. It seemed like a cycle. I didn't quite understand what those indians around me wanted to say to me and strangely, I could hardly contain myself from the urge to throw myself to the ground and roll over on the ground, as if that would ease the pain.
After about three hours, the pain had already spread up my arm and settled in the hardened nodes in the armpit; but I was struck by the fact that there was no swollen point on the finger that would mark the exact place where the stinger had entered. If the finger looked red, it was due to the stomping he had given it.
Later, the pressure in the arm and especially in the armpit, began to subside. I remember that this did not seem like a relief, but as if what I had initially felt in my arm was being distributed proportionally throughout my body. I was exhausted and I began to wait for the onset of the fever, which, as the name of the ant indicates, would last me twenty-four hours. After about five hours all local pain had stopped, although the swelling in the armpit and the heaviness of the arm continued until the next day.
As an inventory, I verified that I had not gotten my pants dirty, nor had I urinated on myself; that they are other known effects, and that finally, I did not throw myself to the ground to roll in the floor. The latter, I think I avoided it for reasons of prestige among those who accompanied me, but had I been in the company of relatives or acquaintances, I would not have hesitated to wallow in the dirt. Years later, I learned that this irrepressible impulse had also been experienced by the great botanist and explorer of the Rio Negro, Richard Spruce, whom on August 15, 1853, poisoned by several "Tucandeira" ants, made him believe that he had been poisoned by a snake.
"It is the most painful encounter that I have had in all my experience in South America ...." -wrote Spruce- "I was only five minutes from the house in San Carlos de Rio Negro and I could not walk fast for more than I tried, and also had to make a great effort not to throw myself to the ground .. " Later, he relates that after three hours he still had not relieved the pain in the least, he vomited, trembled, and the pain in his groin made it impossible for him to walk until the next day.
"It is the most painful encounter that I have had in all my experience in South America ...." -wrote Spruce- "I was only five minutes from the house in San Carlos de Rio Negro and I could not walk fast for more than I tried, and also had to make a great effort not to throw myself to the ground .. " Later, he relates that after three hours he still had not relieved the pain in the least, he vomited, trembled, and the pain in his groin made it impossible for him to walk until the next day.
More powerful than the curare
More than the large anacondas and the electric eels that we saw in the water, it was the Twenty-four ants that were occasionally dragged adrift by the current of water, which worried us most
during that exploration we carried out through the Baria river and Maturacá Channel on January 6, 1987. We also took care of the ants that sporadically collapsed inside the boat, when inside that tunnel of endless vegetation, we tripped over the branches with the "levers" with which we were pushing the "bongo"; which is what they call the larger curiaras (dugout canoes 12 meters long) in the Casiquiare and Rio Negro region. On that rainy day, José Miguel Pérez and Juan Carlos Ramirez had found an especially powerful specimen of this "Paraponera clavata" that was traveling on board with us. The collection date was unexpectedly important, because we kept her alive for the rest of the trip and Juan Carlos, who had a habit of raising snakes and other dangerous animals at home, managed to keep her in very good health by giving her a diet of Oreo cookies and eggs. of bachacos for eighteen months; time during which she was subjected to several "fights" with mice, winning the name of "Terminator" fairly.
" The above photo of the dugout canoes amidst the jungle shows how easy a swimming drifting Bullet ant could climb up into the boat and you would not notice it..." - Charles Brewer Carias
To our satisfaction, we learned that Dr. Carlos Sevcic from the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research, had initiated some studies on the chemical composition of the poison of "Venticuatro"
ant (Twenty four ant) and analyzing a filtrate obtained after crushing abdomens of frozen specimens; He told me that he had isolated a low molecular weight peptide, with great diffusion power, which showed curative effects and which surely acted by blocking the transmission of neuro-muscular stimuli, thus preventing the release of acetylcholine at the neurotransmitter level; that is, it would block the passage of the nerve impulse to the muscles. Something similar to the effects of the indigenous "Curare" poison and the curarina used in surgery, but in a different way; because these act only at the level of the muscle fiber. In other words, this ant did not have a poison that could be considered "normal", but rather the substance it inoculated was extremely neurotoxic, capable of stopping the nerve impulse before reaching the muscle, specially the heart muscle.
Ants to cure poor aim
There is a treatment based on poisoning with ants, which some indigenous people say is carried out with "Twenty-four" ants, but this is not true.
I warn about this, because I have come across some boastful informants, who have wanted me to believe that the basket bristling with poisonous ants that they would have tried on some occasion would have been woven with the Twenty-four ants; but I have exposed this attempt at deception, when I have gotten them a real Paraponera clavata, so that they get stung only once. Then they immediately correct their mistake and admit without hesitation: That a treatment for marksmanship with the "Twenty-four true" ants would cause death!
I must explain that the Bullet ant as it is known generally or Venticuatro ant (Paraponera clavata) as we know it locally is called "Yák´" by the Makiritare, and for those who do not know it well, it could be easily confused with another similar in size but smaller, which they know as "Yúku" ( Odontomachus sp.), Which has been used for the treatment of the restoration of the aim of those hunters who have lost many prey during the hunts; either this using bow and arrows or with the blowgun darts.
I warn about this, because I have come across some boastful informants, who have wanted me to believe that the basket bristling with poisonous ants that they would have tried on some occasion would have been woven with the Twenty-four ants; but I have exposed this attempt at deception, when I have gotten them a real Paraponera clavata, so that they get stung only once. Then they immediately correct their mistake and admit without hesitation: That a treatment for marksmanship with the "Twenty-four true" ants would cause death!
I must explain that the Bullet ant as it is known generally or Venticuatro ant (Paraponera clavata) as we know it locally is called "Yák´" by the Makiritare, and for those who do not know it well, it could be easily confused with another similar in size but smaller, which they know as "Yúku" ( Odontomachus sp.), Which has been used for the treatment of the restoration of the aim of those hunters who have lost many prey during the hunts; either this using bow and arrows or with the blowgun darts.
The above picture shows Charles with the blowgun or Cerbatana and is from when he lived among the Ye´kwana indians in 1961.- Photo by FANNY BREWER
Above photo shows " Indian shooting the arrows to show the aim" - Charles Brewer Carias
For this painful corrective treatment, the Makiritare construct a "Yuku-atei", which means: a support for the ants, in which these "Yuku" ants, that are black and shiny as a bullet, are woven
alive together with the fibers obtained from the stem of a Marantaceae; to form a small basket. In this tissue the ants are arranged tied by the waist, so that all the abdomens with their stinger are on one side, and thus the one who is going to administer the "remedy" can handle them with some ease, and so that the greater quantity of them can inoculate their venom simultaneously. Within the skin that covers the chest and arms of the patient, if the initiate has lost his aim in archery, or the ants are applied on the cheeks, if the weapon with which the hunter has lost the force to blow is the blowpipe.
"The Yuku atei that shows clearly the ants being held by the middle" - Charles Brewer Carias
Basket of ants been applied to the cheeks. The basket of hromigas to be applied to those who have lost their aim is woven with YUKU ants and never with Twenty-four ants because it would be deadly.
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Bibliography
Brewer-Carias, Charles 1992. La Hormiga Venticuatro, el animal mas temido de la Selva. Revista Feriado No 487 . pp.12-13. Julio 5, 1992 . Diario El Nacional. Caracas. Venezuela.
Brewer-Carias, Charles 1992. El Veneno de la Hormiga Venticuatro. Revista Feriado No 488 . pp.12-14. Julio 12, 1992. Diario El Nacional. Caracas. Venezuela.
Brewer-Carias, Charles 1992. La Hormiga y la Serpiente. Revista Feriado No 489 . pp.12-13. Julio 19, 1992. Diario El Nacional. Caracas. Venezuela.
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 1997-a. Im Labyrinth der Schwarzen Wasser. pp. 254-299 in: Inseln in der Zeitt, Venezuela-Expeditionen zu den letzten weiben Flecken der Erde, Uwe George (Ed.) GEO im Verlag 365 p. Hamburg. ISBN: 3-570-06212-0.
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 2014-a. Desnudo en la Selva, Supervivencia y Subsistencia. Libro publicado con asistencia del Banco Exterior. Imprenta Altolitho, Caracas. 220 p. y 500 fotografías. ISBN 978-980127088-1.
Sevcik , C. and C. J. Hernandez 1990. Some findings on neurotoxins from the venom of the giant ant, Paraponera clavata In: Applied Myermecology pp 461-471 .. Edited by Robert K. Vaner Meer, Klaus Jaffe and Aragua Cedeno. Westview Press. Boulder.
Smith, Jim E. "Combat Fighting Knives" 1987, The Brewer-Marto knife is considered the top knife in the Combat/ Survival category (pp 81). EPJ & H Enterprises, Inc. Statesboro, Georgia . USA.
Spruce, Richard. 1908. Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes. (Two Volumes). Johnson Reprint Corporation New York and London 1970. (on Vol. I, page 362, Spruce writes in August 15th. 1853 :
Effects of Ant Stings. (After being stung by a “Tucadéra” ).
Brewer-Carias, Charles 1992. El Veneno de la Hormiga Venticuatro. Revista Feriado No 488 . pp.12-14. Julio 12, 1992. Diario El Nacional. Caracas. Venezuela.
Brewer-Carias, Charles 1992. La Hormiga y la Serpiente. Revista Feriado No 489 . pp.12-13. Julio 19, 1992. Diario El Nacional. Caracas. Venezuela.
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 1997-a. Im Labyrinth der Schwarzen Wasser. pp. 254-299 in: Inseln in der Zeitt, Venezuela-Expeditionen zu den letzten weiben Flecken der Erde, Uwe George (Ed.) GEO im Verlag 365 p. Hamburg. ISBN: 3-570-06212-0.
Brewer-Carías, Ch. 2014-a. Desnudo en la Selva, Supervivencia y Subsistencia. Libro publicado con asistencia del Banco Exterior. Imprenta Altolitho, Caracas. 220 p. y 500 fotografías. ISBN 978-980127088-1.
Sevcik , C. and C. J. Hernandez 1990. Some findings on neurotoxins from the venom of the giant ant, Paraponera clavata In: Applied Myermecology pp 461-471 .. Edited by Robert K. Vaner Meer, Klaus Jaffe and Aragua Cedeno. Westview Press. Boulder.
Smith, Jim E. "Combat Fighting Knives" 1987, The Brewer-Marto knife is considered the top knife in the Combat/ Survival category (pp 81). EPJ & H Enterprises, Inc. Statesboro, Georgia . USA.
Spruce, Richard. 1908. Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes. (Two Volumes). Johnson Reprint Corporation New York and London 1970. (on Vol. I, page 362, Spruce writes in August 15th. 1853 :
Effects of Ant Stings. (After being stung by a “Tucadéra” ).