90 



BUCG£SS£S. 



Effect of 

 Upas Poison. 



CELEBES OR MACASSAR. 



greater ; they may be called the Tartars of the Sea ; fome few 

 are ftationary, living in lilted houfes clofc to the water's edge ; 

 others live altogether in boats, and with their families llnft their 

 quarters and change their refidence along with the Monfoo?is. 

 Mr. Forr^ computes that thev have about feven hundred boats; 

 and adds, that they live chiefly on fifli, have a fquealing voice, 

 and moft favage appearance. He fuppofes them to have been 

 originally fugitives from. Macajfar, Java^ and other places. 



The Buggejfes, or native Macajfars^ are the braveft people in 

 India \ of proved fidelity, if treated with confidence; of the 

 deepeft revenge, if infvdted. They fpread far and wide on the 

 ocean in charader of freebooters, and attack vefTels with moft 

 aftonifliing defperation, efpecially when infpired by opium. 

 On land their arms are lances, or (lender arrows, pointed with 

 the teeth of fifli, dipped in' the fatal poifon of the Upas tree, 

 which grows in this ifland. Thefe arrows they blow out of 

 hollow trunks, and hit their mark at a confiderable diftance. 

 So fubtile is the venom, that it almoft inftantaneoufly efFeds de- 

 ftrudlion ; nor do the Macajfars themfelves know any remedy. 

 Nieuhoff {txw feveral Dutch foldiers cured by fwallowing human 

 dung, by way of a vomit ; but others died, notwithftanding the 

 filthy remedy. A certain root is fpoken of growing in the 

 illand which is ufed as an antidote. 



M. 'Tavernier was eye-witnefs to the rapid efFe(ft of this 

 poifon, which I think too fingular to be omitted : " One day," 

 fays he*, " an EjigliJIoman-i in heat of blood, had killed one of 

 " the king of Macajfafi fubjeds ; and though tne king had 



* Travels, p. jqi. 



«' pardoned 



