208 UPAS TIENTE. 



Fowls have a peculiar capacity to resist its effects, as ap- 

 pears from some experiments which were tried, in which a 

 fowl lived four-and-twenty hours after it had been applied, 

 and some recovered entirely, although a cat had been killed 

 by it in fifteen minutes, and a buffalo in rather more than 

 two hours. Having now fully described the antiar, let us 

 proceed to the other kind of Upas. 



HENRIETTA. 



The tiente 



MRS. F.' 



Or Strychnos tiente,* is a kind of vine, or liane as the French 

 term it. Its flowers and fruit are unknown; the stem ascends 

 the highest trees, and grows only in close, shady, and almost 

 inaccessible forests, in a black, fertile, vegetable mould. It 

 is of rare occurrence, and is neither injurious to animal nor 

 vegetable. No juice exudes from its stem, which is reddish, 

 and the young branches are occasionally furnished with ten- 

 drils. It is from the bark of the root that the gum is obtained, 

 by boiling, and it is prepared with nearly the same ingre- 

 dients as the antiar. The root descends two feet under 

 ground, and then extends horizontally for several feet. It is 

 about the thickness of the arm, woody, and covered with a 

 thin bark of a bitter taste; this bark furnishes the poison, 

 which is only to be obtained by boiling for, when the fresh 

 root is cut, a quantity of water runs from it, without taste, 

 and perfectly harmless. The natives make more mystery 

 about its preparation than about that of the antiar; and its 

 effects, as I have before mentioned, are more violent. As 

 soon as it touches the blood, it is felt immediately, causing 

 excessive burning, fainting, and death. 



HENRIETTA. 



Then all the rest which is said about the Upas is false] 

 * Also called Chetik. 



