POISONS OF VEGETABLE OBIGIN 199 



peculiarly cheerful frame of mind. He had diarrhoea 

 aud distension of the abdomen. Both of them still com- 

 plained of being thirsty, of pain at the angles of the jaws, 

 and of inability to rise — evidently not a case of simple 

 datura poisoning. The boy's grandmother was looking 

 after them and giving them the charmed water which 

 has been described in a former chapter, with successful 

 result (see p. 49). 



Another combination of gadong with datura seeds is 

 to mix them together in the form of a dry powder with 

 the tissues of the half-rotted rengut fruit, the fine hairs 

 of the bamboo, and crumbled pieces of an edible fungus 

 {hulai taun), A dry powder of this description was 

 exhibited by the poUce, and a conviction obtauied, at 

 the Pahang Assizes in Kuantan, July, 1901. In this 

 instance the poison was used by Kedah Malays on 

 Chinese shopkeepers* Poisonous fungi do not appear 

 to be used by Malay criminals for lethal purposes. 

 The young shoots of gadong are used by Malays to 

 poison fish, and are combined with upas poison by the 

 jungle-folk of the Peninsula in the manufacture of dart 

 poison as described under section The Upas Tree, 



Dioscorine, the active principle of gadong (D. tri- 

 phylla), belongs to the pyrrole group of alkaloids. It 

 was isolated by Boorsma and afterwards investigated by 

 Bchutte and by Gorter. It is bitter and poisonous ; it 

 produces paralysis of the central nervous system, and in 

 general behaves hke picro toxin (Rei 10). Malaya use 

 gadong as a food, but take great precautions to prepare 

 it in such a way that it is rendered wholesome. The 

 yam must be matm*e, not wet or newly dug up. It is 

 sun-dried and then peeled and sliced into thin pieces, 

 which are washed for tln-ee days in a running stream, or 

 it is sliced and steeped in salt arid water for five days, 

 the water being constantly changed before the yam is 



