FABULOUS ACCOUNT OF THE UPAS. 203 



be procured by the malefactors who had been condemned to 

 death, but who were allowed this chance for their lives; and 

 so fatal, indeed, was the effluvia, that scarcely one-tenth re- 

 turned, of 700 criminals who were sent. 



MRS. F. 



Yes; Foersch adds, that he had seen several of the crimi- 

 nals who had escaped, and that they told him that the ground 

 was covered with sand and dead bodies, and that no animal 

 whatever was to be seen there. The same author relates that 

 in 1755, 400 families (comprising about 1600 persons), hav- 

 ing refused to pay tribute to the Emperor, were banished, 

 but afterwards obtained permission to settle in the country 

 round the Upas. In less than two months their number was 

 reduced to 300, who afterwards obtained the Emperor's 

 pardon. Such is the long received fable of the Upas; let us 

 now proceed to a true account of it. 



HENRIETTA. 



Thank you, aunt. 



MRS. F. 



In the first place, I must tell you that there are two plants 

 in the island of Java which produce the Upas poison, with 

 which the natives poison their bamboo arrows, &c.; the one 

 is a considerable tree, the other but a small shrub. Both 

 grow in the eastern part of the island; the tree is called Upas 

 antiar; the shrub, Upas tiente; the latter affords the more viru- 

 lent poison of the two; but we will first describe the tree. 



That is, the Upas antiar? 



MRS. F. 



Yes. The Upas antiar (Jlntiaris toxicaria], commonly 

 called IpO) is a large tree, about 100 feet high and 18 feet in 

 circumference at the base. It rises with a naked trunk to 

 about 60 or 80 feet, before it throws out its branches. It 

 belongs to the 21st class of Linnaeus, and to the natural 



