582 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



The external branches are short, 

 have several unequal bends, and 

 are covered with a brown bark. 



'J he leaves are alternate, ob- 

 long, heart-shaped, somewhat 

 narrower towards the base, entire, 

 witli a waving or undulated mar- 

 gin, which sometimes has a few 

 irregular sinuosities. The h)ngi- 

 tudinal nerve divides the leaf 

 somewhat obliquely, and the in- 

 ferior division is generally the 

 larger. The point is irregidar, 

 some are rounded at the end, 

 others run off almost abruptly to 

 a short point. The upper surface 

 is shining and nearly smooth : 

 some widely dispeised short villi 

 are observed on it ; the inferior 

 surface is slightly rough, reticu- 

 lated, and marked with oblique 

 parallel veins. The petiole is 

 short. The flowers aie produced 

 towards the extremity of the outer 

 branches, in a few scattere i cat- 

 kins. The common peduncle of 

 the males is slender and long, 

 that of the females is shoiter. 



Previous to the season of flow- 

 ering, about the beginning of 

 June, the tree sheds its leaves, 

 which re-appear when the male 

 flowers have completed the oHice 

 of fecundation. It delights in a 

 fertile and not very elevated soil, 

 and is only found in the largest 

 forests. I fiist met with it (the 

 Antshar) in the pi'ovince of Poe- 

 gar, on my way to IJanjoouangee ; 

 in the province of Blambaiigan 

 I visited four or Hve different 

 trees, from which this description 

 has been made, while two of 

 them furnished the juice for the 

 preparation of the Oopas. The 

 largest of these trees had, where 

 the oblique appendages of the 

 stem entered the groxmd, a dia- 



meter of at least ten feet, and 

 where the regularly round and 

 straight stem began, the extent 

 of at least ten feet between the 

 points of two opposite apjiendages 

 at the surface of the groimd, its 

 diameter was full three feet. I 

 have since found a very tall tree 

 in Passooroowaiig, near the boun- 

 dary of Malang, and very lately 

 I have discovered several young 

 trees in the forests of Japara, 

 and one in tree in the vicinity of 

 Onarang In all these places, 

 though the inhabitants are unac- 

 (juninted with the preparation and 

 effect of the poison, they distin- 

 guish the tree by the name of 

 Antshar. Fiom the tree I found 

 in the province of Passooroowang 

 I collected some juice, which was 

 nearly equal in its ojjcration , to 

 that of lilambangan. Oi;e of the 

 experiments to be related below 

 was made with the Oopas pre- 

 l)ared by myself, after my return 

 to the chief village. I had some 

 diflficulty in inducing the inhabi- 

 tants to assist me in collecting the 

 juice, as they feared a cutaneous 

 eruption and inflammation, re- 

 sembling, according to the ac- 

 count they gave of it, that pro- 

 duced by the Ingas of this island, 

 the Rhus vernix of Japan, and the 

 HIius radicans of North Amei'ica ; 

 but they were only affected by 

 a slight heat and itching of the 

 eyes. In clearing the new grounds 

 in the environs of Banjoowangee 

 for cultivation, it is with much 

 difficulty the inhabitants can be 

 made to appioach the tree, as 

 they dread the cutaneous erujjtion 

 which it is known to produce 

 when newly cut down. 



But except when the tree is 

 hugely wounded, or when it is 



felled. 



