FLORA VITIENSIS. 233 
sessilis 2-bracteolati laciniis lineari-lanceolatis basi lacero-dentatis.—Lam. Illustr. t. 805 ; Endl. 
Prodr. Fl. Norf. p. 82* ; Ferd. Bauer, Plant. Norf. t. 182 (ex Endl. 1. c.)* Commia Cochinchinensis, 
Lour. Flor. Cochineh. ed. Willd. p. 743.  Ezcecaria*affinis, Endl. Prodr. Flor. Norf. p. 88 (ex 
icone Baueriana). Stillingia Agallocha, Baill. Étud. Gén. Euphorb. p. 518. t. 7. f. 31-34. Nomen 
vernac. Vitiense, “ Sinu gaga ” (i. e. poisonous Sinn).—On_the seabeach of most of the Vitian Islands. 
Also collected in Tonga (Capt. Cook! Sir E. Home!), New Caledonia (M‘Gillivray !), and Norfolk 
Island. Diffused over N.E. New Holland, Ceylon, India, and the Archipelago and Cochinchina. 
The Sinu gaga (Exwezcaria Agallocha, Linn.) or poison Sinu, called so in contradistinction to the 
Sinu damu (Drymispermum Burnettianum, Seem.) and the Sinu mataivi (Wikstremia Indica, C. A. Meyer), 
both of which, like the Sinu gaga, are littoral plants, is a tree, contact with which is avoided by the Fijians. 
It is found in mangrove swamps or on dry ground, just above high-water mark. It is sixty feet high, 
has a glossy foliage, oblong leaves, and small green flowers arranged in spikes. It is difficult to exter- 
minate, for unless the stumps are taken up, innumerable young shoots spring up as soon as the main 
stem is felled. When the tree is wounded, abundance of white milky juice flows, which produces a burn- 
ing effect on coming in contact with the skin. Some natives, however, can handle this poisonous juice 
with perfect impunity (era sinu dranw), analogous to what I witnessed in the Manzanillo or Manchineel 
tree of tropical America, the sap of which caused me the greatest agony after it had accidentally entered 
my eyes, and never raised even as much as a blister on being allowed to dry on the hands of a travelling 
companion. The smoke of the burning wood affects the eyes with intolerable pain, exactly as that of the 
Manchineel tree does, (of which I gave an instance in the * Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald.’ vol. i. 
. 141,—one of our boat’s crew becoming blind for several days after lighting a fire with Manchineel wood). 
Only those, like myself, who have been sufferers from the effect of these poisons, can form any adequate 
conception of the agonies endured, and the courage displayed, by a Fijian who voluntarily submits him- 
self to being cured of leprosy by the smoke of the Sinu gaga wood. The Rev. W. Moore, of Rewa, 
was well acquainted with Wiliami Lawaleou, a young man who underwent the process of being smoked. 
Mr. Moore gave me the particulars of this remarkable case, when I was his guest in 1860, and he has 
also published: a full account of it in the * Wesleyan Missionary Notices, Sydney, 1859, p. 157. After 
stating that he knew Wiliami as a fine healthy young fellow, Mr. Moore was surprised to find him one day © 
so much altered by the effects of leprosy. Some time after he again met him full of health, and, on inquiry, 
learnt the treatment adopted to bring about this change. Taken toa small empty house, the leper is 
stripped of every article of clothing, his body rubbed all over with green leaves, and then buried in them. - 
‘A small fire is then kindled, and a few pieces of the Sinu gaga laid on it. As soon as the thick black smoke 
begins to ascend, the leper is bound hand and foot, a rope fastened to his heels, by means of which he is 
drawn up over the fire, so that his head is some fifteen inches from the ground, in the midst of the poison- 
ous smoke. The door is then closed and his friends retire a little distance, whilst the poor sufferer is left 
to ery and shout and plead from the midst of the suffocating stream ; but he is often allowed to remain for 
hours, and finally he taints away. When he is thought sufficiently smoked the fire is removed, the slime 
scraped from the body, and deep gashes cut into the skin until the blood flows freely. The leper is now 
taken down and laid on his mats to await the result. In some cases death—in many, life and health. 
Wiliami had undergone this fearful process. He had taken some of the youths of the place, and on his 
way to the smoking-house told them his pitiable condition, his shame as an outeast, and his willingness to 
suffer anything to obtain a cure, and much would depend on their firmness. They were not to be moved 
by his groans and cries, and, for the love they bore him, he begged them to do ¢he operation well, and 
threatened to punish them if they performed it only half. Imagine the scene! They proceed to the 
lonely house. Wiliami’s companions, as much afraid of overdoing as underdoing their sad task, leave the 
poor leper drawn up by the heels in the midst of a thick black smoke ; they retire to some distance, and 
presently are horrified by his piteous cries and groans. Some weep, some run home, others rush into the 
smoking-house to take him down; but, with Spartan-like endurance, he commands them not to terminate 
his suffering until the process is complete. At last they take him down—he is faint and exhausted—the 
operation has been successful. Wiliami is no longer a léper, but again walks God's earth a healthy man. 
B ER Nt He “6 
