PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 



Eighteen years* service in the Government of the 

 Federated Malay States, ten of which have been spent 

 in Kelantan, has afforded me time and opportmiity to 

 prepare these notes. They are made from consulta- 

 tion with friendly Kelantan " medicine-men '* {boTnor 

 or pawang) and converse with other Malay '* witch- 

 doctors " {bomor or pawang), as well as from actual 

 acquaintance with the individual drugs mentioned. 

 The original notes formed a paper on " Some Malay 

 Poisons," which is published by the Government of the 

 Federated Malay States. They are expanded and 

 supplemented by reference to the pubhshed works of 

 Mr, H. Ridley, G.M.G., F.R.S., M,A., formerly 

 Director of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore ; to Henry's 

 " Plant Alkaloids," published in 1913 ; Brown's Punjab 

 Poisons," 1888 ; Skeat*s Malay Magic," 1900, and 

 other general sources, including some Dutch authors, 

 chiefly Greshoff and Boorsma. Much scientific work 

 was done in the Malay Archipelago by the late Pro- 

 fessor Greshoff, and the poisonous plants described by 

 > him and by Boorsma are generally found also in the 

 Peninsula. 



We know very little about Malay poisons, and our 

 knowledge, indeed, of Malay drugs seems to be confined 

 to Ridley's " Materia Medica," published in the Agri- 

 cultural Bulletins of the Straits Settlements for 1906, 

 and afterwards translated into Dutch by Professor 

 Greshoff, of Haarlem C'De Xndische Merciiur," 1907). 

 I am gieatly indebted to Mr. I. H, Burkill, M.A., 



