NATURAL HISTORY. 



679 



])rotl\iced by its poison, I must 

 premise a few remarks on the his- 

 tory of its more accurate investi- 

 gation, and on the circumstances 

 which have lately contributed to 

 bring a faitliful account of this 

 subject before the public. 



At the time I was prosecuting 

 my inquiries into the botany and 

 natural history of tlie island on 

 behalf of the Dutch government, 

 M. Leschenault de La Tour, a 

 Frencli naturalist, was making a 

 private collection of objects of 

 natural liistory for the go\ernor 

 of the north-east coast of Java. 

 He shortly preceded me in my 

 visit to the eastern districts of the 

 island, and while I was on my 

 route from Sourabaya in tliat di- 

 rection, I received from him a 

 communication containing an ac- 

 coimt of the jioison-tree as he 

 found it in the province of Blam- 

 bangan. I am induced to make 

 this statement, in order to con- 

 cede, as far as regards myself, to 

 Mr. Leschenault de La Tour, in 

 the fullest manner, tlie priority of 

 observing the Oopas of Java. I 

 do this to prevent any retlection, 

 in case a claim to tlie discovery 

 should be made at a future pe- 

 riod : but I must be permitted to 

 add injustice to the series of in- 

 quiries which engiiged me and 

 the manner in which they were 

 carried on, that the knowledge of 

 the existence of tliis tree was by 

 no means uncommon or secret in 

 the district of Blambangan, in the 

 environs of Banyoo-waiigee ; that 

 llie commandant of the place, a 

 man of some curiosity and inquiry, 

 wiis acquainted with it, and that 

 it could not (in all probability) 

 have escaped the notice of a \)er- 

 son, who made the vegetable pro- 

 ductions an object of particular 



inquiry, and noted with minute 

 attention every thing that related 

 to their history and operation. 



It is in fact more surprizing 

 that a subject of so much noto- 

 riety in the district of Blamban- 

 gan, and of so great celebrity and 

 misrepresentation in every other 

 part of the woild, should so long 

 have remained unexplored, than 

 that it should finally have been 

 noticed and described; and since 

 my visit to that province I have 

 more than once remarked the 

 coincidence whicli led two persons 

 of nations dififerent from each 

 other, and from that which has 

 been long in possession of the 

 island, who commenced their in- 

 quiries without any previous com- 

 munication and with different ob- 

 jects in view, within the period 

 of about six months, to visit 

 and examine the Oopas Tree of 

 Java. 



Tlie work of Rumphius contains 

 a long account of the Oopas, un- 

 der the denomination of Arbor 

 Toxicaria ; the tree does not grow 

 in Aniboyna, and hi.s description 

 was made from the information 

 he obtained from Macassat. 



His figure was drawn fiom a 

 branch of that which was called 

 the male tree, sent to him from 

 the same place, and establishing 

 the identity of the poison-tree of 

 Macassar and the other Eastern 

 Islands with the Antshar of Java. 



The account of this author is 

 too extensive to be abridged in 

 this place. It concentrates all 

 that has till lately been published 

 on this subject ; but the relation 

 is mixed with many assertions 

 and remarks of a fabulous nature, 

 and it is highly probable that it 

 was consulted in the fabrication 

 of Foersch's story. It is, how- 



2 P 2 ever. 



