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XXVIII. — The Poisoned Arrows of the Abors and Mishmis of North-East India, and 

 the Composition and Action of their Poisons. By Sir Thomas R. Fraser, 

 M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the University 

 of Edinburgh. 



(Read December 21, 1914. Issued separately August 24, 1915.) 



[Plates XCVIII-C. 



CONTENTS. 



A. Historical and General 



PAGE 



897 



B. Arrows poisoned with Aconite, from — 



(a) Macdonald ; (b) Wyville Thomson ; 

 (c) Bailey ; and (d) Sloggett ; 

 and Aconite Roots from Abor and Mishmi 



Countries 899 



C. Arrows poisoned with Croton : (a) Government 



of India Arrows ; (5) Description of Abor 

 and Mishmi Arrows ; (c) Ether Extract 

 from Abor and Mishmi Arrows ; (d) Oil 

 of Croton Tig Hum 910 



D. General Observations and Results, with 



Summary ....... 926 



Explanation of Plates 929 



A. Historical and General. 



The country of the Abors is situated in the north-east of India, and lies between 

 28° and 29° N. latitude, and between 94° 50' and 95° 30' E. longitude. 



The Abors consist of a number of different tribes or septs, some of whom inhabit 

 the lower grounds of the Brahmaputra and of several of its tributaries, while others 

 inhabit the elevated regions approaching the snow-line of the Himalayas. The 

 boundaries are not accurately known, but appear to be coterminous with Assam on 

 the south and Thibet on the north. 



The country of the Mishmis is also undefined, and apparently extends laterally 

 from that of the Abors, probably from the Dibang or Tsan Po tributary of the 

 Brahamputra river on the west, to or near the Lohit river and the tributaries of 

 the Dimba on the east. 



The combined territories of the two tribes may otherwise be stated to extend 

 between 94° 50' and 97° 30' of E. longitude, and between 28° and 29° of N. latitude.* 



It has long been known that the Abors and Mishmis use poisoned arrows and 

 darts in warfare and the chase, and in the latter even for killing tigers, buffaloes 

 and elephants. 



Our troops were assailed with poisoned arrows in Major-General Babbage's Abor 

 Expedition of 1848, and they were used in most of the subsequent punitive ex- 

 peditions, which also originated from the depredations of these turbulent tribesmen. 

 These weapons, however, on account of the rudeness of their construction, their 

 inefficiency at long ranges, or the nature of the poison, caused only a few 



* In Abor Jungles, by Angus Hamilton, 1912, pp. 13 to 18, 219 et seq. ; The Imperial Gazetteer of India, vol. v, 

 1908, p. 2, and vol. xvii, 1908, p. 377 ; Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, by E. T. Dalton, 1872, pp. 13 and 22. 

 TRANS. ROY. SOC. EDIN, VOL. L, PART IV (NO. 28). 128 



