DR THOMAS R. FRASER ON STROPHANTHUS HISPIDUS. 961 



by the tribes inhabiting the banks of the Mukuru-Madse, a tributary of the Shire Eiver, 



states that " the animals are wary, from the dread they have of poisoned arrows 



The arrow making no noise, the herd is followed up until the poison takes effect, and 

 the animal falls out. It is then patiently watched till it drops — a portion of meat round 

 the wound is cut away, and all the rest eaten. Poisoned arrows are made in two pieces. 

 An iron barb is fastened to one end of a small wand of wood, ten inches or a foot long, 

 the other end of which, fined clown to a long point, is nicely fitted, though not otherwise 

 secured, in the hollow of the reed which forms the arrow shaft. The wood immediately 

 below the iron head is smeared with the poison. When the arrow is shot into an animal, 

 the reed either falls to the ground at once, or is very soon brushed off by the bushes ; but 

 the iron barb and poisoned part of the wood remain in the wound. If made in one piece, 

 the arrow would often be torn out, head and all, by the long shaft catching in the under- 

 wood, or striking against trees. The poison used here, and called Kombi, is obtained from 



a species of Strophanthus It is possible that the Kombi may turn out a valuable 



remedy There is no doubt that all kinds of wild animals die from the effects of 



poisoned arrows, except the elephant and hippopotamus. The amount of poison that 

 this little weapon can convey into their systems being too small to kill those huge beasts, 

 the hunters resort to the beam-trap instead."* One of the arrows referred to by Dr 

 Livingstone is represented in Plate I. fig. B. 



According to Sir John Kirk, " one poisoned arrow is said to be sufficient to kill a 

 buffalo, but half a day is required for the poison to act. Probably the mechanical state 

 of the poison causes this ; for the poison composition is hard, and will require time to be 

 absorbed into the system from the wound. The hippopotamus is killed by it, but the 

 quantity needed seems to be about thrice that on an ordinary arrow. It is driven through 

 the thick skin of the animal by being placed on the barbed head in the lower end of a 

 beam of wood, which falls from a height as the beast passes underneath a trap. The 

 poisoned head is driven well in by the big end of the beam, and is left to act, which it is 

 said to do in about half a day." t 



The Rev. Horace Waller, who was a member of Bishop Mackenzie's Expedition, 

 informs me that in May 1863 he was presented with some pods of the Kombe poison at 

 Chibisa's village, on the Shire river, by a chief named Dakananioio.J This chief, at the 

 same time, stated that the manner of preparing the poison was " to gather the pods when 

 green, cut off the outside rind, then expose them to the sun till dry, when the seeds 

 were taken out, pounded, mixed with red clay, and the mixture, which is a red paste, 

 packed round the arrow." Mr Waller also states " that in time of war it is common 

 for the people of a village to place a quantity of the thistle-down appendage about the 

 entrances, to warn the enemy that the villagers have been busy smearing their arrows." 



I am indebted for much valuable information to Mr John Buchanan, at present 



* Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries, 1858-1864, by David and Charles Livingstone, 

 1865, pp. 465-467. 



t Unpublished letter to Dr Sharpey, dated 1st January 1864. 



% Mr Waller subsequently gave these pods to Sir John Kirk, who brought them to England in 1863. 



