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months before it could be ascertained that, there were 

 no less than thirty persons involved in the matter. As 

 the result of the trial, the giving of the Tangena 

 beans in any shape, except medicinally under the 

 orders of a doctor, was declared to be a question of 

 life and death. The village was fined heavily, to the 

 extent of £6,000 or £7,000, and even a female under 

 his (Dr Parker's) care, who was in the hospital at the 

 time that these events happened, and could not possibly 

 have had anything to do with the affair, had to pay 

 her share of the fine, and she sold her ancestral land 

 in order to enable her to do so. This showed how 

 severe the Malagasy Government was against the use 

 of the Tangena beans; and the severity was not 

 without reason. Mr Holmes had made an inquiry 

 about the efficacy of Famamo in its stupefying action 

 upon fish. All he knew of its efficacy was upon the 

 authority of his own students, and they had seen it 

 used ; but it was not now necessary to use an intoxi- 

 cant for catching fish, for the people had become more 

 clever in making and using their nets. It would be 

 advisable to try the effect of this plant upon some fish 

 contained in a globe of water, in order to ascertain 

 whether in the leaves, or in the bark, or in any other 

 part of the plant, there resided active principles 

 which might be serviceable in medicine. Then there 

 was a plant which, in its action and taste, waa 

 somewhat similar to aconite. He, however, believed 

 that it did not belong to the same Natural Order. It 



