POISONS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN 201 



flowers, and big ovoid reddish-brown fruits. In size the 

 fruit roughly resembles a small-sized unpeeled coco-nut, 

 and may be from 7 to 12 inches in length and B to 

 4 inches or more in width. Each fruit contains some 

 twenty to thirty seeds, which are nearly 2 inches in 

 length, roughly triangular, grooved, woody, and 

 embedded in an oily pulp. It grows abundantly in 

 Selangor, Pahang and Perak, in the Malay Archipelago 

 generally, but is not common in Kelantan. A good 

 specimen, however, thrives well at Kuala Bala on the 

 Kuala Pergao estate in Ulu Kelantan. Sir Hugh 

 Clifford, when describing the Pahang disturbances of 

 1894, remarks that At spots where the Mfaymig fruit 

 grew plentifully the refugees had camped for over a 

 week, and many new graves marked their resting place, 

 for the kepayang bears an ill name " (Ref. 5). This is 

 exemplified in the Malay proverbial saying: laJcsana 

 huwa]i kepayang^ di-makan mahok^ di-buwang sayaiig 

 ('* like the fruit of the fcepaj/ang, which intoxicates you 

 if you eat it and which you have not the heart to throw 

 away ; pretty but harmful "). 



The poisonous properties of kepayang are well known 

 to Malays ; they are said to resemble those of gadong. 

 The seeds are the most toxic part of the tree, but 

 apparently only when they ai-e quite fresh and in the 

 raw state. The oil expressed from raw seeds is added 

 to cakes by Malay criminals to cause death ; the fresh 

 seeds are said to be very poisonous to poultry. They 

 are said by Vaughan Stevens to be used in making dart 

 poison by the Pangan jungle-folk, and the bark of the 

 tree is stated to be used as a poison to fish. In 

 November, 1918, the kernel of an old dry kepayang seed 

 obtained from Pahang was given to a half-tame lesser 

 adjutant bird (Leptoptilus javanicus) in Kota Bharu 

 without any effect, and three others were given in rice 



