STROPHANTHUS 329 



concoct the arrow poison, one man betakes himself into 

 the forest's depths, far away from human habitations. 

 He frees the seeds of strophanthus from their hairy 

 appendages, (which by the way are an article of com- 

 merce, serving in the making of vegetable silk), and 

 pounds them to a pulp in a mortar; he then adds water 

 and the expressed juice of the rind of a tiliaceous species 

 yielding a gum that serves to make the poison stick to 

 the arrow. The poison thus prepared is then smeared 

 upon the shaft, to a length of about six inches. It is 

 said that game wounded by an arrow poisoned by stro- 

 phanthus dies at once, seldom being able to move a 

 hundred yards. The flesh of animals killed in this way 

 is eaten without any evil effect, the only precaution 

 taken, being either to cut out and exclude the flesh 

 surrounding the wound, or to squeeze into it the sap 

 from a branch of the baobab tree (Adansonia digitatd). 

 Elephants and hippopotami can not be destroyed in this 

 manner, as they do not respond to the amount of poison 

 an arrow can carry. 



The pigmies of Africa use five ingredients in com- 

 pounding their arrow poisons, and three to make their 

 antidote to this poison. Surgeon Parke was so fortunate 

 as to secure detailed information with regard to the 

 source of these ingredients. (Pharm. Journ., Vol. XX, 

 1890-91, pp. 917 and 927). This poison is not con- 

 nected with strophanthus; it has as its basis some 

 species of Strychnos, and the bark of Erythrophlceum 

 guineense, Don, the tree that yields the "red-water 

 ordeal" of African tribes. 



The ouabaio poison of the Somali deserves here 

 special mention, because its active principle, onabain, 

 is believed to stand in close connection with strophan- 



