STROPHANTHUS 327 



that the pappus would thus make an hygrometer suffi- 

 ciently sensitive for practical purposes. 



Strophanthus Kombe, Oliver, is a similar plant, native, 

 however, of eastern Africa. It was at first referred to 

 S. hispidus, and by some is still considered to be but the 

 Oriental form of this species. It has the same hirsute 

 leaves, but more coriaceous. The sepals are shorter 

 than the corolla tube, and the cymes are fewer flowered 

 than in S. hispidus. 



Although the genus strophanthus was thus estab- 

 lished by De Candolle as far back as 1802, it was not 

 until the early sixties that the drug came to the general 

 notice of Europeans as being one of the arrow poisons 

 used among the native African tribes, there being two 

 kinds of arrow poisons derived from this source, one 

 prepared on the west coast of Africa (Senegambia, 

 Guinea and Gaboon), called inee or onaye, which is de- 

 rived from Strophanthus hispidus, D. C. This is on 

 the authority of Hendelot, who observed the plant 

 yielding this poison in Senegambia at the river Nunez 

 (246). A specimen of this arrow poison was sent to 

 Europe and investigated by Pelikan in 1865. (Comptes 

 Rendus, 1865, vol. 60, p. 1209). 



On the east coast of Africa, the korribe or gombe poison 

 was in use by the Manganjah tribe, located near Lake 

 Nyassa on the banks of the river Shire, a tributary of 

 the Zambesi River. Consul Kirk in Zanzibar, in 1861, 

 established that this poison originated from a strophan- 

 thus species, and forwarded specimens to Professor 

 Sharpey in England for the purpose of investigation 

 (246). Subsequently, in 1865, Livingstone's famous 

 reports brought the kombe poison to a more general 

 notice among Europeans (387). This species of stro- 



