Neither the natives nor the inhabitants have any remedy for snake bites, in which they put implicit faith. This I found out from their frequently applying to me for medicine, after their own resources had been completely exhausted. When an accident of this nature happens, the patient, in the interior particularly, is generally put under the charge of a class of people called Curadores, who apply their remedies with many mysterious ceremonies. The first operation of the Curador is to suck the wound, which, if immediately had recourse to, I believe to be the next best thing to excision or cauterization. The patient is then put into a dark room, and care is taken that he is not exposed to currents of air. One of the remedies which they believe to be the most efficacious, is that which is well known in Minas and the other inland provinces, by the name of Black Root (_Raiz Preto_), and Snake Root (_Raiz de Cobra_). It is the root of a common shrub, now well known to botanists by the name of _Chiococca anguifuga_. It has a pungent disagreeable smell, not unlike that of the common Valerian. Decoctions of this are given to drink, and poultices of it are applied to the wound. The _Raiz Preto_ acts as a violent emetic and purgative, and also induces copious perspiration. If it operates freely in this manner, they augur favourably of the patient’s recovery. Besides this plant they use many others. Snakes have generally a disagreeable musky smell, and it is a common opinion among the people, that any plant possessing one similar is sure to be valuable in the cure of their bites. In the province of Pernambuco, I found that a common method of cure was to give the patient rum to drink, till he was in a perfect state of intoxication; and this they affirm is very frequently a successful remedy. But the most extraordinary method of cure which I have ever heard of, is one which was communicated to me by a farmer (Fazendeiro), who accompanied me to Rio on my return from the mountains. Only three days, he said, before he left his estate, one of his oxen was bitten on the leg by a Jararáca, but having immediately applied his remedy, it became as well as any of the others before he quitted home. This remedy consists of the following well-known Latin acrostic, or, as he termed them, magical words:— S. A. T. O. R. A. R. E. P. O. T. E. N. E. T. O. P. E. R. A. R. O. T. A. S. Each line is to be written separately on a slip of paper, and then rolled into the form of a pill, the whole five to be given as soon as possible after the person or animal has been bitten. He also gave me quite as ridiculous a remedy for the cure of drunkenness. This was to place a piece of bread in the arm-pits of a dying man, and allow it to remain there till he was perfectly dead. The smallest portion of this bread, he affirmed, given, without their knowledge, to those addicted to intemperance, would produce a perfect cure.