226 MALAY POISONS AND CHAEM CUBES 



to the late Da to* Lela Derja of Kota Bharu, when the 

 blade of the kris was to be poisoned it was smeared by a 

 mixture of white arsenic with the juice of the small 

 chilli. Owing to the Kelantan Order in Council of 1909, 

 by which the wearing of the kris by Malays in public 

 was prohibited, penetrating woimds of the heart — the 

 typical kris wound— are now less commonly seen or 

 recorded in hospital practice. 



Other Uses of Arsenic. — ^As a medicine arsenic is 

 valued by Malays as an external application in the 

 treatment of yaws (Puru), bemg used either by itself 

 in the form of a pow^der, or as an ingredient in a vege- 

 table paste made either by grinding down the root of a 

 wild red vine (Leea rubra) or the root of a shrub called 

 chekor mam's (Sauropus albicans) with a little w'ater. 

 When using white arsenic the bomor endeavours to 

 prevent the pain which it causes by burning it in a slow 

 fire until it is blackened ; he then pulverises it in a 

 mortar and makes it up either with coco-nut oil or with 

 the juice of the common " thin-skinned lime " fruit. 

 The yellow sulphide of arsenic (Orpiment ; the hSrangan 

 kuning of Java) and the red sulphide (Realgar ; herangan 

 or ivarangan merah) are also used as local applications • 

 but they cause pain, and their use in days gone by was 

 mainly in connexion with finishing the blade of a kris, 

 which, when damascened, veined and watered, is called 

 the 'pamtir on the kris. 



The process oipamur is described by Newbold (1839) 

 as follows : " Place on the blade a mixture of boiled 

 rice, sulphm*, and salt, beat together, first taking the 

 precaution of covering the edges of the weapon with a 

 thin coat of virgin wax. After this has remained on 

 seven days the damask wOl have risen to the surface. 

 Take the composition off, and immerse the blade in the 

 water of a young coco-nut, or the juice of a pine-apple, 



