20 
MAiATAN FISH POiaOK, 
Aker tuba grows apparently wild on the plains in Perak, 
and is also rather extensiTely cultivated. Tlie roots, dont- up 
into bundles, art? t<) lie Ixmgbt in many of the shops, and in 
Taiping, the chief town of Perak, it sells for about 35 cents i>er 
kati, or 9hd. ]>er pound. 
The root, which is the most viruknt part of the plant, exudes, 
when cut, a wliite niilky sajj, which under the microscope ie stNm 
to be an emulsion. The roots have a rather pleasant aromatic 
resinous smell, bearing a elight resemblanee to that of liquorice 
root- 
It is used largely by the Chinese market gardeners as an 
insecticide, for which pnriwse the fresh roots are clvopiK:d up line 
and then |vounded and niixt^l with water, which Incomes milky, 
and whicli is sprayed or brusbe^i over the plants with ii bunch of 
feathers. 
The main use of the plant was, however, tuitil the much- 
needed prohilvition came into forcte, aB a tisb- poison, f for which 
purpose it is pounded or groimd fine and mixed with stiff clay 
and crushed ivfuse sluimps or small fish, and the mixture ii* then 
made into balls and dried. These Ijalis are thrown into the sea. 
Mke fafToim'd bait, and fish eating them l>ecfime j>ijigoned, ristj to 
the surfjice, and are caught hy the watcliiug tishermeu. Tliii? 
way of using it is probably not very bannful, though the same 
cannot Ije said of its use in fresh waters. 
By the Malays it ia used in the rtvers hi the following way ;— 
One or more dug-out canoes, aecordiii*,' t*.) the size of the stream 
to be opemted on, are partly fillt.*d with water and the pounded 
roots. The men then upset the bt>at or Uiats into the river, and 
allow the other boats to drift down with the current, whilst with 
nets and s^iears they secure the fish as they rise stupefied to the 
surface. It is a most destructive metbod of fishing, killing aa it 
does all the fish, little imd liig, for some miles altmg a wat*.^rw-ay. 
The young fish succumb much more readily to the poison than 
the lai^er ones, in yu nidg and pools the destruction of the fish is 
even more complete than in a river, and the Malays say it is years 
Ijefore tliey becx)me tenanted with fish again. In all instanct^s, 
l>esidee the actual effects of the [loison, the fouhug of the wa^i^r 
hy the decomposition of the lK>dies of the fish and animals of all 
sorts hm to lie taken into considenition. 
Bv experiiuent I have fi>und thfit 20 grains of the gri«n root 
win render one gallon of water suflSciently poisonous to kill fish. 
* Fish poisoning is still, however, cnmod on. In Jlarcli of the proaent 
veflr I saw a largo ]mrty fisliiiiK in oiw of the rivers; fnlly 500 
pei>p]E? wiMt* onfrojKtxl, and many buat.ltiatiB of HhTi wf»re oaujfht and moif 
defltrnyeil. Pur over ten milos down tlit> rivc^r doiul and (lying fish wtsre l<i 
Ue aieen. Uynaniito ia also used to a conBidemUlo o.\tent ia the State. 
