966 DR THOMAS R. FRASER ON STROPHANTHUS HISPIDUS. 



a hard gritty powder, of dark colour, could be removed, which appeared under the micro- 

 scope to consist merely of irregular structureless particles. When the powder was macerated 

 and then triturated with water, a yellowish-brown nearly tasteless solution was obtained, 

 but the greater part of the powder remained undissolved. The solution thus prepared 

 from one-tenth of a grain, along with as much as possible of the undissolved substance, 

 was injected under the skin of a small frog, but it failed to produce any obvious effect. 

 The experiment was repeated with one-fifth of a grain of the scraped substance, and the 

 result was also entirely negative. 



Dr Felkin was good enough to place at my disposal other three of the same arrows. 

 On steeping the three heads in distilled water for twenty-four hours, a nearly clear pale 

 yellowish-brown solution was obtained, which, on being evaporated to dryness at 100° R, 

 left a pale reddish-brown residue, weighing only 0*15 grain. This residue was dissolved 

 in 4 minims of distilled water, and injected under the skin of a frog weighing 326 grains ; 

 but, as in the previous experiments, no symptoms were produced. 



If these arrows, therefore, had originally been poisoned with the same substance as 

 arrow D, which is undoubtedly active, the poison had by some means been removed from 

 them. 



Arroiv D (see Plate I.). — This arrow is one of two exactly alike, also very kindly 

 given to me by Dr Felkin, and brought by him from the Wanyika country near 

 Mombasa, on the east coast of Africa, north of Zanzibar. The arrow is 29 inches in 

 length. The shaft is made of a nearly white, fined-grained, light wood : it is smooth and 

 round, 23^ inches in length and -^-ths of an inch in diameter ; and is provided with 

 three rather broad feathers, each nearly 2 inches long and \ an inch wide, which are 

 neatly lashed to the wooden shaft, immediately above the bowstring notch. The head 

 is made of iron, and consists of a straight portion, merely inserted, without any lashing, 

 for 1 inch into a hollow in the wooden shaft, and of a small barbed head, unsymmetrical, 

 and unprovided with any grooving on the wings. The poison is smeared round the straight 

 portion of the head, which is 4 inches long and x\ths of an inch thick, and it is pro- 

 tected by a covering of skin (like kid) carefully coiled round the whole of the head. The 

 poison is of a greyish-black colour on the surface, and black and resin-like in the interior.* 

 When a little water is added to it, a reddish-brown clear solution is soon produced, which 

 in a few hours becomes very dark in colour and opalescent. The solution has a faintly acid 

 reaction, but no distinct bitterness. On microscopic examination, the poison was found 

 to consist of an abundance of vegetable cells and fibres, numerous oil globules, some 

 amorphous yellowish granular matter, and a few fragments of vegetable hairs. With 

 solution of potash it almost entirely dissolved, and became of a dull orange colour, and 

 with 10 per cent, sulphuric acid it became light brown, and then, on being heated be- 

 tween 116° and 118° F., reddish-brown — the latter colour continuing for twenty-four hours. 



* An arrow almost identical with this one was shown to me by the Rev. Ed. H. Baxter, of Mpwapwa, who had 

 obtained it from the Wakamba, a tribe of elephant hunters inhabiting a district adjoining that of the Wanyika tribe 

 The arrow is stated to be used in warfare also. 



