DR THOMAS R. FRASER ON STROPHANTHUS HISPIDUS. 965 



in the cane, where it is secured by a cord made of tendon wound round the end of the 

 cane, and of a relatively small barbed head. The poison has been abundantly applied to 

 the straight portion of the iron head, as it surrounds it for a length of nearly 5^ inches 

 in a layer of about x^th of an inch thick ; and it has the same appearance as in arrow A. 

 The barbed head is rather more than 1^ inch in length ; it has not the elegant tapering 

 form of the barbed head of arrow A, but like it, one of the two wings on each surface is 

 concave and the other convex. 



The poison is dark brownish-red on the outside, and paler, with a faint pinkish hue, in 

 the interior ; and it is rather tough in consistence, and earthy in structure. It also is 

 only partly dissolved by water, forming a nearly colourless acid solution; and the un- 

 dissolved portion was found, under the microscope, to consist of fragments of vegetable 

 tissue, numerous pieces of broken hairs, granular particles, and oil globules. When mixed 

 with solution of potash, the fluid part became faintly yellow, having reddish particles 

 suspended in it, and when heated gently with 10 per cent, sulphuric acid, it slowly 

 became green, and afterwards dark brown. One-tenth of a grain rubbed with a few drops 

 of water yielded a nearly colourless clear solution, wdiich produced, in a frog weighing 

 310 grains, the same symptoms as the poison from arrow A. One hour after administra- 

 tion, the exposed heart was found to be motionless, even when irritated ; and the ventricle 

 was small and mottled in colour, and the auricles were dark and distended. Active 

 general reflex movements were obtained fifteen minutes after the heart had been exposed. 



Arrow C (see Plate I.). — This arrow is one of two of exactly the same form, kindly 

 given to me by Dr Felkin, along with other two arrows having the form represented in 

 Plate I. fig. D. 



Arrow C was brought from a district 75 miles N.N.W. of Zanzibar, by Dr Felkin, 

 and it is reputed to be poisoned with the same substance as arrow D, namely, the poison 

 contained in the packet J, afterwards to be described. 



The total length of the arrow is 31 inches, and of this length about 29^ consists of 

 the shaft. The latter is in two unequal pieces spliced together ; one piece, carrying the 

 feathering, being about 20^ inches long, and the other, having the head attached to it, being 

 about 9^ inches long. Both pieces of the shaft seem to be made of the same wood, which 

 is about f ths of an inch in diameter, light, nearly white in colour, and smooth on the 

 surface. The shaft has three narrow parallel feathers If inch long, lashed on to the 

 shaft 1^ inch from the bowstring notch. The head of the arrow is made of iron, and 

 its straight portion is inserted for |th of an inch into a split made in the wooden shaft, 

 where it is secured by the shaft being lashed for \ an inch with cord. About ^ inch only 

 of the straight portion of the head is exposed. The barbed portion is about l\ inch in 

 length, unsym metrical, and somewhat rudely finished, and both wings of it are flat. The 

 whole of the barbed head and of the short exposed portion of the straight piece of iron is 

 irregularly covered with a thin dark brown incrustation, stated to be the poison, which 

 adheres tenaciously to the head. 



On scraping the head with a knife, it was only with difficulty that a small quantity of 



