138 MALAY POISONS AND CHAEM CUBES 



Akar batu pilir havibing is used by Malays to poison 

 dogs, elephants and cattle ; the poison is contained in the 

 seeds, which are called pifis buah by Kelantan Malays. 

 They are so named from a fanciful resemblance to a coin 

 of very small value used on the east coast : each seed 

 is about the thickness of ordinary paper ; there are about 

 100 seeds in each fruit. As a poison for small animals 

 the seeds from one half of a fresh green fruit are dried 

 and powdered. This powder is mixed either with 

 boiled rice or any other food that the animal is accus- 

 tomed to eat ; it is employed by bm^glars to kill watch- 

 dogs, and causes paralysis {jpaiah jnnggmig) in them and 

 other quadrupeds. For large animals, such as the 

 elephant, bullock and water-buffalo, all the seeds from 

 a fruit will be required. Although jntis Jniah will kill a 

 dog outright, Malays add white arsenic and the juice of 

 the lime fruit to the powdered seeds when they wish to 

 make more certain of destroying the animal. 



In September 1920, I gave rather more than half the 

 number of seeds of a Sarcoiobus globosus fruit to a 

 large healthy male pariah dog that weighed 28 lbs. 

 The fruit had been gathered fresh three months before 

 on a small island (Pulau 'Che Tahir) in a tidal creek 

 near Tumpat, the sea-port of Kelantan. The dried 

 seeds were giound up, mixed with cooked rice, chopped 

 meat, fish, and condensed milk. The dog ate the poison 

 at 4.30 p.m. ; at 9 p.m. it w^as lying do^vn and could not 

 stand. It vomited and pm-ged and died about fourteen 

 hours after the administration. Shortly before death 

 it was in tetanic convulsions ; the pupils were dilated. 



The alHed species of Sarcoiobus, viz., Spanoghei, 

 Miq-, and S. virulentus,. Griff., are recorded as poisons. 

 The first of these two jungle climbing plants is called 

 wali kamhmg in Java, where it is used for destroying 

 tigers. Under the name of S. narcoticus, Greshoff gives 



