VEGETABLE POISONS. 335 
hus atrum, Forst., an Anacardiaceous plant. The tree, 
when fully developed, is about sixty feet high, bearing 
large oblong leaves and a very curious corky fruit, some- 
what resembling the seed of the walnut. On handling 
the specimens a drop of the juice fell on the hand of 
one of our party, and instantly produced a pain equal to 
that caused by contact with a redhot poker. Mr. E. A. 
Egerstrom, a Swedish gentleman, residing on the island 
of Naigani, had been still more unfortunate in his ac- 
cidental contact with the Kau Karo; and on visiting 
his hospitable roof on the 2nd July, 1860, he was just 
recovering from the effects of the accident. Having de- 
sired a native carpenter to procure him a spar suitable 
for a flag-staff, one was brought of Kau Karo, about 
forty-two feet long, and twenty-two inches in girth at 
the foot, having a white wood and a green bark, not 
unlike that of the Vau dina (Paritium tiliaceum, Juss.) 
and light-coloured when peeled off. Ignorant of the 
poisonous properties of the tree, Mr. Egerstrom himself 
peeled off the bark, and found the sap beneath it very 
plentiful. ‘In the evening,’—I quote Mr. Egerstrém’s 
own words, in a letter to the British Consul,—“I was 
troubled with considerable itching about my legs, and 
every part of my body which had come in contact with 
the spar, especially about the abdomen and lower parts, 
having sat across the tree when barking it. All the parts 
affected became red and inflamed, breaking out in innu- 
merable pustules, which emitted a yellowish matter with 
a nauseous smell. The itching was exceedingly painful 
and irritating, and my arms having been bare when ope- 
rating upon the tree, also became inflamed and broke 
