POISONS FROM JUNGLE PLANTS 167 



pinch oflF the flowers to protect their young from being 

 poisoned by the fruit, but in the Botanic Gardens at 

 Singapore young monkeys have often been observed 

 eating the pulvinus at the base of the leaf blade. 



A preposterous Malay antidote for poisoning by 

 rengut, when compounded as a deadly poison {rachun 

 h€sar)f is to take bones of a whale, the solid casque of a 

 rare horn bill (Rhinoplax vigil), a sea-porcupine's spine, 

 stag's horn and rhinoceros horn, and rub them down 

 together in hot water to make a draught. The following 

 prescription, beyond help from antidote," was given 

 to me by the headman of the Kesial district in Kelantan, 

 a district with an evil reputation in the art of poisoning : 

 " Take rengut fruit, bristles of the * hairy sea- worm/ 

 hairs of the caterpillar {ulat bulii darafjy juice of the 

 millepedes {pinang kotai and jelantor), bile of toad and 

 crow {emfMu kafak puru and burong gagak), and miang 

 rebong (bamboo hairs), mix them, then add shreds of the 

 dry ibid nut." The effect of this mixtm-e is said to be 

 a cough with spitting of blood, quickly followed by 

 insensibility and death. 



TANGIS SARANG BURONG 



The Tangis Sarang Burong tree (Heynia trijuga, Eoxb, 

 — Meliaceae) is called dimk or juak in Malay States other 

 than Kelantan. It is not a very poisonous tree ; but 

 the fruit is sometimes mixed with chandu (opium 

 prepared for the pipe), or with chandu dross {tengkoh — 

 opium prepared for resmoking), and with ripe areca- 

 nut, and then used by thieves to stupefy people. 

 Chandu dross, the tengkoh of the Chinese, is cheaper to 

 buy than chandu ; it is a black, hard, dry stuff, which 

 on the application of heat gives off the peculiar fumes 

 of the opium pipe. 



Heynia trijuga is one of the Indian medicinal plants 



