POISONED WEAPONS. 209 



MRS. F. 



Entirely. You see, from what I have told you, that 

 Foersch's account, as far as relates to the situation of the 

 tree, to its effects upon the surrounding country, and to the 

 application said to be made of the Upas upon criminals, as 

 well as the description of the poisonous substance itself, and 

 its mode of being collected, all prove to be an extravagant 

 forgery; at the same time that its effects must be admitted to 

 be of equal violence with almost that of any vegetable poison 

 known. A poisoned arrow of bamboo, to the end of which 

 is attached a shark's tooth, is thrown by the people of Ma- 

 cassar, Borneo, and the Eastern Islands.* Darts of arrows 

 of antiar poison were employed by the natives of Macassar, 

 in their attack on Amboyna, in about 1650; also, by the 

 people of Celebes, in former wars with the Dutch; but after 

 its having proved mortal to many of their soldiers, the Dutch 

 discovered an infallible remedy in the roots of Radix toxicaria 

 (Rumphius). The Upas is also used to mix with rice, as a 

 bait to animals. 



HENRIETTA. 



But, surely, they cannot eat them afterwards? 



MRS. F. 



Yes, they can; for the flesh is not poisonous, excepting 

 just the part which comes in contact with the poison. f It is 

 not known to which natural order of plants the Upas tiente 

 belongs, but it is supposed to be one of the Apocinae, which 

 contains many poisonous plants, such as the bean of St. Ig- 

 natius (Ignatia amara), mix vomica (Strychnus nux vomica), 

 snake wood, &c. 



* Rumphius describes the Upas, under the name of arbor toxi- 

 caria, and thus establishes the identity of the poison tree of Macas- 

 sar and the other Eastern Islands with the antiar of Java. 



t The above account of the two kinds of Upas is taken from 

 Raffles's Java., vol. i.; Diet, des Sciences Naturelles; .Leschen- 

 ault, &c. 



18* 



