POJSONED ARROAVS OF THE ABORS AND MISHMIS OF NORTH-EAST INDIA. 927 



of a man, or lie would require to be transfixed, within a short time, with at least 

 six of these arrows. 



Applying these data to elephants and buffaloes, for whose slaughter poisoned 

 arrows are stated to be used by the Abors and Mishmis, and assuming the weight of 

 an elephant to be two and a half tons or 2540 kilos, the minimum lethal dose of 

 the most virulent of the aconite arrow-poisons examined would be 127 grammes, or 

 that carried by thirteen arrows ; and, similarly, a buffalo of the weight of thirteen 

 or fourteen hundredweights or about 700 kilos would require to be transfixed with 

 four or five arrows. 



Against the accuracy of these several deductions there are the probabilities that 

 when inserted into muscular and other deeply placed structures the aconite poison 

 would be absorbed less slowly than when subcutaneously injected and that when 

 recently prepared the poison would be more active than after it had been weather- 

 exposed for a considerable time. In regard to the latter probability, it is, indeed, 

 stated to be customary to prepare the poison a short time before it is used in warfare 

 or hunting expeditions. 



Even with these reservations, the above estimates of lethality probably overstate 

 the death-producing capacity of the aconite-poisoned arrows which I have examined, 

 for the physical state of the poison would render its solution and absorption a tardy 

 process, so that only a part of the total poison of an arrow could be operative in any 

 given time. 



This retardation in action would no doubt also be aided by the several sub- 

 stances incorporated with the arrow-poisons, which are nearly all inert substances 

 having adhesive qualities. Thus the sap of the jack-fruit tree (Artocarpus 

 integrifolia) and, as we have seen, the powdered interior of the seed of Entada 

 scandens are stated to be incorporated with the aconite arrow-poisons ; the juice of 

 the elephant apple (Feronia elephantum) with the croton arrow-poisons ; and pig's 

 blood or the venom of a serpent with some of the arrow-poisons, but only on 

 vague evidence. 



Of the two groups of poisoned arrows, the evidence is not sufficient to render it 

 certain that either is alone used by the Abors or by the Mishmis. # It is, however s 

 sufficient to render it probable that arrows poisoned with croton are chiefly used by 

 the Abors, and those poisoned with aconite by the Mishmis. To a certain extent 

 this preference may be explained by the former being cultivated in the lower 

 grounds of the valleys included in the territory of the Abors, and therefore easily 

 obtained by them ; whereas aconite plants grow chiefly on the higher elevations 

 of the Himalayas and in Thibet, and therefore are more easily obtained by the 

 Mishmis. 



* Some Abor poisoned arrows have been examined by Major Windsor, I. M.S., and by Chdna Lal Bose, M.B., 

 F.C.S., chemical examiners to the Government of India. The former expresses the opinion that a substance derived 

 from the root, twigs, and leaves of a croton plant is the toxic ingredient, and the latter that either aconite or croton 

 oil may be the poison. 



