THE UPAS. 55 



bark is cut, a sap flows out mucli resembling milk, 

 but thicker and more viscid. A native prepared 

 some poison from tkis kind of sap for Dr. Horsfield. 

 He mingled ^\dtli it al^out balf a drackm of tlie 

 sap of tlie follo-^ving vegetables — arum, kempferia 

 galanga, anomum, a kind of zerumbed, common onion 

 or garlic, and a drackm and a half of black pepper. 

 Tliis poison proved mortal to a dog in one kom* ; a 

 mouse in ten minutes ; a monkey in seven ; a cat in 

 fifteen ; and a large buffalo died in two hours and ten 

 minutes from the effects of it. A similar poison is 

 prepared from the sap of tlie chetek^ a climbing vine. 

 The deadly anchar is thus pictured in Darwin's 

 " Botanic Garden : " 



" Fierce in dread silence, on the blasted heath, 

 Fell Upas sits, the hydra-tree of death ! 

 So, from one root, the envenomed soil below, 

 A thousand vegetative serpents grow ! 

 In shining rays the steady monster spreads 

 O'er ten square leagues his far-diverging head, 

 Or in one trunk entwists his tangled form. 

 Looks o'er the clouds, and hisses at the storm ; 

 Steeped in fell poison, as his sharp teeth part, 

 A thousand tongues in quick vibration dart. 

 Snatch the proud eagle towering o'er the heatl), 

 Or poimce the lion as he stalks beneath ; 

 Or strew, as martial hosts contend in vain, 

 With human skeletons the whitened plain." 



All the north coast of Java is very low, often 

 forming a morass, except here and there where some 

 mountain sends out a sj)ur to form a low headland. 

 As we neared Madura this low land spread out be- 

 neath the shaUow sea and we were obliged to keep 



