14 MALAY POISONS AND CHAEM CURES 



concealed about his person can be recognised by the 

 absence of the top part of his shadow — i.e., the shadow 

 of his head and neck is not projected. Many think 

 that poisoned food can be recognised by the shadow 

 of the right hand and fingers not being cast when 

 eating rice. Some say that a stirring rod of ivory will 

 become dusky if poison should have been put into 

 food, such as curries and other stir-abouts. In Perak 

 a spoon made of the beak of a horubill is said to turn 

 black if it touches poison. 



The honior, like Mithridates the Great, king of 

 Pontus and Bithynia, can make an antidote for any 

 kind of poison ; his compounds differ fi*om the royal 

 prescription, which consisted of " two dry wahiuts, and 

 as many good figs, and twenty leaves of rue, bruised 

 and beaten together, with two or three corns of salt, 

 and twenty juniper berries, which taken every morning 

 fasting, preserveth from danger of poison and uifection 

 that day it is taken " (Kef. 5), For instance, one is 

 prepared from the wing-bone of a goose, the horn of 

 the wild goat, the spine of the sea porcupine, the tusk 

 of a toothed whale, and various yet unidentified jungle 

 roots and barks. These are to be rubbed down in hot 

 water on a stone, and after careful straining the water 

 is to be given by the mouth. A formula must be 

 recited and a powerful rendering given at the same time 

 by the homor who owns the charm. This prescription 

 was used by the late To* Bomor Enche' Abdullah, a 

 " medicine-man " to H.H. the late Sultan of Kelantan ; 

 the charm that he used is given on p. 46. 



Burnt tiger *9 whiskers in coco-nut oil as an internal 

 remedy for chronic rheumatism ; the ashes of a cat*s 

 whiskers in hquid opium as an antidote to poison ; 

 hairs from an elephant's tail as toothpicks in the 

 toothache of children, and medicines derived from the 



