13 



beautiful red seeds with a black spot, brought from In- 

 dia, which are sometimes worn as ornaments of dress, 

 are said by the natives to be so dangerous, that the 

 half of one of them is sufficiently poisonous to destroy 

 a man ; this account, however, seems to exceed pro- 

 bability, but that they have a very prejudicial quality 

 I have no doubt ; for, within my own knowledge, I 

 have seen an extraordinary effect of the poison of one 

 of these peas. A poor woman who had some of 

 them given to her, and who did not choose to be at 

 the expense of having them drilled, to put on a thread 

 so as to make a necklace of them, put the seeds into 

 hot water till they were sufficiently soft to be per- 

 forated with a large needle, in performing this ope- 

 ration, she accidentally wounded her ringer, which, 

 in a short time, became very painful, swelled consi- 

 derably, the swelling soon extended to the whole 

 hand ; and it was a considerable time before she reco- 

 vered the use of it. 



c The Botanical name of the plant that produces this Pea 

 is Alms Precatorins. 



