44 



M A L A Y A N ISLE 3. 



the fiibied gardens of the Hefperides in claffic lore, whofe ila- 

 tionaiy ccntinel was a watchful dragon. 



The Dutch call this tree Macajferne Gift-bo-om, or Spatten^ 

 boom ; an>l in the Malaye language it is termed Caju-Upas, that: 

 is to fav poifon-tree, and the fruit fimply Upas. By the people 

 of Macajfar^ and throughout Celebes, both the tree and its poifon 

 are called Ipo. 



The darts to which the natives apply this poifon, are a foot 

 or eighteen inches in length, very flender, made of reed, or 

 light wood, and armed W'ith the tooth of the Lamia fliark 

 imeared with poifon. Thefe are fixed in a tube five or fix feet 

 long, and blown by the breath of the afTailant with great force 

 to the diftance of piftol fliot : upon reaching the defiined ob- 

 je6l, the barbed tooth adheres, and the wood only can be ex- 

 tra(fi:ed, or fometimes detaches itfelf, and falls to the ground. 

 The efFedt of the poifon is to produce a fenfation of heat in all 

 parts of the body, and oppreflive Vertigo in the head, w^hich is 

 prefently fucceeded by a total debility,, and death within the 

 fpace of half an hoiu" is the certain confeqiience. Nay fo rapid 

 are its efFedts in fome inflances, as to prove fatal in lefs than a 

 quarter of an hour. And farther, fo inflantaneoufly does its 

 virus pervade the whole human frame, that by experiments 

 made npon malefadors, it has been proved, that if the thumb 

 or the foot only be wounded by the poifonous dart, and am- 

 putation immediately performed upon the afFeded member,, 

 aftonifliing to relate ! death infallibly enfues. 



After a long intercourfe, and many bloody contefls with the 



natives 



