162 MALAY POISONS AND OH ABM CUBES 



skin has been affected as happens when a native with 

 unprotected body struggles through broken branches, 

 this fever is said to be so irritant and septic that it not 

 infrequently ends fatally. I have not, however, seen a 

 case of such gravity, but from the peculiarly severe 

 symptoms produced by the sap on a small surface there 

 can be httle doubt that where a large extent of skin is 

 involved, the consequences might be most serious " 

 (Bef. 2). 



GEdema of the skin is especially marked when rengas 

 sap touches the face. Thus Kidley remarks, when com- 

 menting on the sap of Gluta benghas. Linn. : ** A Malay 

 was weeding a bed of seedlings when he accidentally 

 broke one, and feehng a mosquito on his face put up his 

 hand to drive it off. His face very quickly sw^elled to a 

 great size and he had to be -sent to the hospital for 

 treatment for some days.*' Mr. Skeat tells me that his 

 Boyanese syce cUmbed a rengas tree to cut an over- 

 hanging branch in the garden, and, not knowing the 

 nature of the tree, took no precautions : w^hen he got 

 down his face was swollen up till it became quite round 

 like a football, his eyes disappearing into his head." 

 A precaution sometimes taken by Malay and Chinese 

 timber-cutters, especially when they know themselves 

 to be susceptible to ringas poisoning, is the smearing of 

 their bodies with oil, such as sesamum or jingili oil 

 {minyak hija7i or m, lenga). The clinical symptoms of 

 ringas poisoning resemble those of " lacquer poisoning," 

 which is described by Scheube as being common in 

 Japan and caused by the lacquer tree (Rhus vemicifera, 

 B.C. — ^Anacardiacese). 



Rengas trees yield a I'ich red timber streaked with 

 black : it is knowi} either as Bornean rose- wood or as 

 Singapore mahogany ; the grain is straight and even, 

 but the wood is rather brittle. It takes a very fine 



