J A V A. 45 



natives of Celebes, whicli may be filled the Colchos of India^ 

 teing an illand noted for many other forts of poifon, the 

 Dutch acquired the knowlege of f )me fpecifics among the in- 

 digenous plants, which difarmed this tremendous weapon of 

 much of its terrors. Here are faid to be two fpecies of the Ipo, 

 diftinguiflied by the names of male and female, and that the 

 lx)ifon of the latter is much lefs efficacious than that of the for- 

 mer, and ufed chiefly for the deftrudlion of game. The juice 

 is extracted from the tree by piercing the bark of the trunk, 

 and inferting therein long bamboos fliarpened at the point. Four 

 or five of thefc are fixed to one tree, and remain three or four 

 days, that the fap may leifurely dillil into them, and when filled 

 they are removed for ufe. 



Mr. N. P. Foerfcbi a Duicb frrrgeon ftationed at Batavia in 

 1774, gives the following account of the fituation of the tree, 

 and the manner of collecting the poifon. The reader is left to 

 form a judgment of the writer's authority, and how far his cre- 

 dulity is to be cenfurecl. " It is," fays he, " feated about twenty- 

 " feven leagues from Soura, the feat of the emperor, encircled 

 " by high hills and mountains, and the country around, to the 

 ** diliance of ten or twelve miles, has neither tree nor flirub, or 

 " even the leaft plant or grafs. I have made the tour all around 

 " this dangerous fpot, at about eighteen miles diftant from the 

 " centre, and I found the afpevSt of the country on all fides 

 " equally dreary. The eafieft alcent of the hills is from that 

 " part where the old ecclefiaftic dwells. I had procured a re- 

 " commendation from an old Malayan prieft, to another prieft 

 " who lives on the nearelt inhabitable fpot to the tree, which is 



" about: 



