DR THOMAS R. FRASER ON STROPHANTHUS HISPIDUS. 963 



References to the use of poisoned arrows in Africa occur in the writings of many other 

 travellers and explorers, but in most instances the effects of the poison, and the source 

 from which it is derived, are not described with sufficient definiteness to render it 

 possible to identify the poison.* 



Only a few poisoned arrows have as yet reached this country from Africa, owing, 

 probably, to some extent to the difficulties of carriage, but certainly much more to the 

 reluctance of the natives to place poisoned arrows in the possession of Europeans. I 

 have, however, been able to examine arrows of eight different forms obtained from 

 various parts of Africa. Two of them were given to me as specimens of arrows the 

 poison of which was known to be the Kombe poison, or Strophanthus. Of the others, 

 either no knowledge of the poison existed, or it was believed to be derived from plants 

 other than Strophanthus. A few details regarding these arrows may prove of interest. 



Arrow A (see Plate I.). — Arrow in the Materia Medica Museum of the University of 

 Edinburgh. One of four tied together, and labelled " Poisoned arrows from the interior 

 of Africa, poison unknown." The label has unmistakably been written by Sir Robert 

 Christison, but there is no further information to be found in the Catalogue of the 

 Museum. This arrow has a total length of 38 inches. It has a shaft made of bamboo cane 

 34 inches in length, with a deep notch for the bowstring, and with eight narrow feathers 

 commencing 1^ inch above the notch, and extending If inch along the shaft. The 

 arrow-head is a formidable-looking weapon made of iron, which is inserted into a hollow 

 in the cane and secured by a cord, apparently consisting of animal tendon, tied round 2f 

 inches of the cane. The portion of the head not inserted in the cane is almost 4 inches in 



* Burton (The Lake Regions of Central Africa, 1860, vol. ii. p. 305), for example, states that the Wanyika of 

 Mombasah, the Wazaramo, the Wak'hutu, the Western Wasagara and the people of Uruwwa use poisoned arrows in 

 warfare, and that the poison is extracted by the Wazaramo and the Wak'hutu from a plant called Mkande-Kande. They 

 sold the poison at an exorbitant price, " but avoided pointing out to the Expedition the plant, which from their descrip- 

 tion appears to be a variety of Euphorbia." Schweinfurth (The Heart of Africa, translated by Ellen E. Trewer, 

 1878, vol. i. p. 140) asserts that the Bongo tribe of Central Africa poison their arrows with the milky juice of one of the 

 Euphorbiae (venifica). Thomson (To the Central African Lakes and Back, 1881, vol. ii. pp. 40, 139) describes encounters 

 in which he was threatened with poisoned arrows at Kwakissa, and by a Maranga chief. Cameron (Across Africa, 

 1885, pp. 59, 242, 291) refers to the employment at Ugambo and Mombassa of poisoned arrows, neatly covered with 

 banana leaves, for killing elephants ; to the natives at Neketo, on the Kaga, possessing arrows deeply barbed and 

 poisoned ; and to the inhabitants of Ulegga using poisoned arrows for which they had an antidote. Montagu Kerr 

 (The Far Interior, 1886, vol. i. p. 29) states that the Masarwa bushmen carry small bows and bark pouches containing 

 poisoned arrows, the points of which are made of bone or iron, and the poison is the concentrated milky juice of 

 Euphorbia arborescens. And Farini (Through the Kalahari Desert, 1886, pp. 332, 253) gives a description of the pre- 

 paration of the poison for arrows from the milky juice of a large bulb mixed with serpents' venom, and states that 

 poisoned arrows are used by the M'kabba, a pigmy tribe, and by the Orange River bushmen. 



Further, I am indebted to Dr Felkin for several small arrows, designated " Tikki-Tikki or Akka arrows," obtained 

 by him at Rohl Bahr-el-Ghazal, a province of Central Africa, north of the Equator. They are from 18^ to 20 inches 

 in length, and are furnished with iron heads, of which the straight portion is hollow, and fits on to the end of the 

 wooden shaft, and the true head is oval or obovate, and in some of the arrows provided with wire-like spikes at the 

 base. The poison is applied by dipping the whole head, including the straight part, into a dark brown gummy fluid, 

 stated to be derived from a Euphorbia, which seems to be afterwards removed from the outside of the iron head, as it is 

 found only on the inside of its hollow straight portion, and on the wood of the shaft covered by it. The thin wooden 

 shaft has no feathering, but its extremity is cut into a circular disc of greater diameter than the rest of the shaft, showing 

 apparently that the arrows are projected from a blow-tube. They are reputed to be very active, and are said to be used 

 in warfare as well as for killing game. 



VOL. XXXV. PART IV. (NO. 21). 7 H 



