THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 425 



In the midst of this fearful cohort of deadly plants, the 

 upas-tree of Java stands prominently out as one of those 

 which distil the most terrible juices. Its action is such that 

 a weapon dipped in it at once kills any animal it strikes. 

 Travellers relate having seen several women guilty of adul- 

 tery die in six minutes after being pricked below the bosom 

 with a lancet dipped in the juice of this tree. 



No tree has been the subject of so many ridiculous fables 

 as the upas, and till quite lately they were popularly be- 

 lieved. On the faith of a Dutch surgeon named Foersche, 

 it was related that the upas flowed from a unique and sin- 

 gular tree, which vegetated in the midst of a frightful sol- 

 itude in Java, " the valley of death." According to this 

 traveller, no living creature could resist the poisonous va- 

 pors which it exhaled, and for three or four leagues around 

 only dead bodies and skeletons of men and animals were to 

 be met with. The birds themselves which ventured into 

 the surrounding air fell to the ground as if struck by light- 

 ning. Criminals condemned to capital punishment alone 

 essayed the task of wresting its infernal produce from the 

 tree. Many tried the perilous journey, but very few re- 

 turned from it. 



It is disgraceful to be obliged to admit that we owe the 

 refutation of this fabulous narrative to so recent a writer as 

 Leschenault. This traveller noticed that the famous poison 

 is furnished by two species of trees which grow amid the 

 forests of Java. So far from exercising a deleterious influ- 

 ence upon all that surrounds them, they are encompassed 

 by a luxurious vegetation, while birds, lizards, and insects 

 lend animation to their boughs and foliage. The learned 



