12 MALAY POISONS AND CHAEM CUBES 



dients, was sent to me in 1920 to experiment with. 

 It was given to a dog, but the result of the experiment 

 was not known owing to the pariah slipping its chain 

 and escaping shortly after it had swallowed the poison. 

 This particular combination is said to be so deadly that 

 it must not be prepared inside a house or in a market 

 town, but in the sohtude of thick jungle. An evil-doer 

 (Mat Hasan), I am told, neglected this precaution when 

 making it, only a few months ago, and so caused his 

 own death. He was getting it ready in his house, had 

 reduced the millepede to fine powder and the galls of 

 the bear and the toad, when a puff of wind blew the dry 

 powders into his mouth and nostrils and he died in three 

 days. The villagers said he had died of fever, but those 

 who ** knew " declared Mat Hasan had accidentally 

 poisoned himself. 



Some apparently quite harmless things are avoided 

 (j>aniang) when combined, because they are said to 

 be poisonous (mabok) in combination : for example, 

 mangosteen fruit with sugar, for fear the sap of the 

 rind will mix with the sugar ; water-melon with honey, 

 for the same reason ; the heart {umbut) of the coco-nut 

 tree with shell-fish ; the heart of the nihong palm 

 with oysters. Fish and other food must be fried 

 only with vegetable oil, i.e., coco-nut oil ; a stew 

 made of the flesh of the mouse-deer and pineapple 

 is said to cause death. It is said that the dmian 

 fruit must not be eaten with brandy, so also even in 

 England that eating a banana with a glass of Cura^oa 

 at dessert is " very unwise." On the other hand, tradi- 

 tion says it is unwise to eat the pear without wine 

 {" Pear, Wine and Parson " — Cotgrave*s Dictionary, 

 1650) :— 



Apres la poire, 



Le vin on le pretre. 



V 



