THE UPAS. 



55 



bait is cut, a eap flows out mncli resembling milk, 

 but thicker and more viscid. A native prepai*ed 

 some poison from this kind of sap for Dr, Horsfield, 

 He miagled with it about half a drachm of the 

 sap of the foilowiag vegetables^ — arum, kempferia 

 galangii^ anomumj a kind of zerumbed, common onion 

 or garlic, and a drachm and a half of black pepper. 

 This poison proved mortal to a dog in one hour ; a 

 mouse in ten mkiutes ; a monkey in seven ; a cat in 

 fifteen; and alai'ge buffalo died in two bonis and ten 

 minutes from the effects of it. A similar poison is 

 prepared from the sap of the clheteh^ a climbing vine. 



The deadly anchar is thus pictured in Darwin's 

 ^' Botanic Garden : " 



** Fierce in dread silence, on the blasted heatlij 

 Fell Upas gita, the hydi*a-tree of death ! 

 So, from one j*oot, the eovenomed soil below, 

 A thousand vegetative serpeuts grow I 

 In shining rays the steady monster spreads 

 O'er tmi square Imbues his far-diverging head^ 

 Or in one trunk eutwists Ms tangled form, 

 Looks o'er the clouds, and hisses at the storm ; 

 Steeped in fell poison, as his sharp teeth part, 

 A thousand tongues in quick vibration dart, 

 Snatch the proud eagle towering o'er the heatli, 

 Or pounce the lion as he stalks beneath ; 

 Or strew, as martial hosts contend in vain, 

 Witli human skeletons the whitened plain." 



All the noith coast of Java is very low, often 

 forming a morass, except here and there where some 

 mountain sends out a spur to foim a low headland. 

 As we neared Madura this low land spread out be- 

 neath the shallow sea and we were obliged to keep 



