246 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



From the roots of a creeper, called letaegaera by 

 the Angoni, the natives extract a most virulent 

 poison, which will prove fatal in about an hour, the 

 effects of the poison being peculiar in that, prior to 

 death, it causes paralysis of the nerve centres 

 affecting speech. 



Another largely used poison is distilled from the 

 blossom of the strophanthus shrub, the natives about 

 Lake Nyassa calling it combe. An infinitesimal 

 dose of this drug is used in European medicine as 

 a cardiac stimulant. 



That great enemy of the native, the crocodile, 

 also adds indirectly to its list of native victims by 

 its own death, for its gall, when dried in the sun 

 and pulverized, makes a most deadly poison. 



There are many poisons used by the natives for 

 their arrows, poisoned stakes, etc., but of all these, 

 by far the most deadly is that obtained from the 

 ujungu tree. This tree, found chiefly in the Mhega 

 district of the Wangindo country, German East 

 Africa, is of a peculiar whitish colour, and of so 

 deadly a nature that only certain natives will 

 venture to cut it, for a splinter causes terrible 

 inflammation and often proves fatal. It seems as 

 if Nature has mercifully restricted these trees to 

 very distinct localities, and, unlike other trees, 

 they are neither plentiful nor beautiful. This being 

 so, natives will travel hundreds of miles to purchase 



