118 MALAY POISONS AND CHABM CUBES 



of the tail, but they are not so serious as those caused 

 by the thi-ust of the spine. When the spined ray 

 attacks it strikes its tail around some part of the victim 

 and forces the spine into the flesh, causing a deep and 

 jagged wound. On the sea-coast of Kelantan the tail 

 of a sting-ray is not infrequently carried as a switch. 

 In January, 1921, a Malay constable was punished by 

 the court for slashing a leading merchant at the sea-port 

 of Tumpat across the face and neck with one of these 

 switches. The injuries, which consisted of bruised 

 abrasions on the face, neck and forearm, were not of a 

 serious surgical nature. 



The far more serious wound caused by the spine has 

 been described as follows : "A Chinaman, aged twenty 

 years, was attacked, the wound being in the thigh. 

 When rescued he fainted and on regaining consciousness 

 had complete numbness and paralysis of the limb 

 affected. The wound remaining unhealed he was 

 brought to hospital a fortnight later, and on admission 

 he had a peculiar stiif look and unusual glassiness of the 

 eyeball, extreme weakness bordering on collapse, pallor, 

 feeble heart, but ravenous appetite. The injured leg 

 was not swollen, but sensibihty was lost. There was a 

 jagged, irregular, sloughing womid 2h inches (6 cm.) 

 deep mth a copious very sickening, foetid, thin, dark- 

 grey discharge. With treatment the sloughs gradually 

 came away, though small subcutaneous abscesses 

 developed and large parts of the muscles came away 

 exposing the bone. Finally granulation occurred, 

 though meanwhile the same foetid pus collected in the 

 knee-joint " (Ref. 1), 



The spine of the sting-ray {sengai pari) is given by 

 Malay poisoners by the mouth : it is burnt, reduced to 

 powder, and then mixed with needle crystals (raphides) 

 of the rengut fruit (Epipremnum giganteum, Schott— 



