FLORA VITIENSIS. 233 
sessilis 2-bracteolati laciniis lineari-lanceolatis basi lacero-dentatis—Lam, Illustr. t. 805; Endl. 
Prodr. Fl, Norf. p. 82%; Ferd. Bauer, Plant, Norf. t. 182 (ex Endl. Lc.). Commia Cochinchinensis, 
Lour, Flor. Cochinch. ed. Willd. p. 743. Excecaria affinis, Kndl. Prodr. Flor. Norf. p. 83 (ex 
icone Baueriana). Stéillingia Agallocha, Baill. Btud. Gén. Euphorb, p. 5!8. t. 7. f. 31-34. Nomen 
vernac. Vitiense, “ Sinu gaga ” (i. e, poisonous Sinu).—On the seabeach of most of the Vitian Islands. 
Also collected in Tonga (Capt. Cook! Sir E. Home !), New Caledonia (M‘Gillivray !), and Norfolk 
Island, Diffused over N.E. New Holland, Ceylon, India, and the Archipelago and Cochinchina. 
_ The Sinu gaga (Zxeacaria Agallocha, Linn.) ov poison Sinu, called so in éontradistinetion to the 
Sinu damu (Drymispermum Burnettianum, Seem.) and the Sinu mataivi (Wikstremia Indica, ©. A. Meyer), 
both of which, like the Sinu gaga, are littoral plants, is a tree, contact with which is avoided by the Fijians. 
It is found in mangrove Swamps or on dry ground, just above high-water mark. It is sixty feet high, 
has a glossy foliage, oblong leaves, and small green Howers arranged in spikes, It is difficult to exter- 
minate, for unless the stumps are taken up, innumerable young shoots spring up as soon as the main 
stem is felled. "When the tree is wounded, abundance of white milky juice flows, which produces a burn- 
ing effect on coming in contact with the skin. Some natives, however, can handle this poisonous juice 
with perfect impunity (era sinw dranu), analogous to what I witnessed in the Manzanillo or Manchineel 
tree of tropical America, the sap of which caused me the greatest agony after it had accidentally entered 
my eyes, and never raised even as much as a blister on being allowed to dry on the hands of a travelling 
companion. The smoke of the burning wood affects the eyes with intolerable pain, exactly as that of the 
Manchineel tree does, (of which I gave an instance in the ‘ Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald.’ yol.i. 
p- 141,—one of our boat’s erew becoming blind for several days after lighting a fire with Manchineel wood). 
Only those, like myself, who have been sufferers from the effect of these poisons, can form any adequate 
conception of the agonies endured, and the courage displayed, by a Fijian who voluntarily submits him- 
self to being cured of leprosy by the smoke of the Sinu gaga wood. The Rev. W. Moore, of Rewa, 
was well acquainted with Wiliami Lawaleou, a young man who underwent the process of being sinoked. 
Mr. Moore gave me the particulars of this remarkable case, when I was his guest in 1860, and he has 
also published a full account of it in the ‘Wesleyan Missionary Notices,’ Sydney, 1859, p. 157, After 
stating that he knew Wiliami as a fine healthy young fellow, Mr. Moore was surprised to find bim one day 
so much altered by the effects of leprosy. Some time after he again met him full of health, and, on inquiry, 
learnt the treatment adopted to bring about this change. Taken to a small empty house, the leper is 
stripped of every article of clothing, his body rubbed all over with green leaves, and then buried in them. 
A small fire is then kindled, and a few pieces of the Siu gaga laidonit, As soon as the thick black smoke 
begins to ascend, the leper is bound hand and foot, a rope fastened to his heels, by means of which he is 
drawn up over the fire, so that his head is some fifteen inches from the ground, m the midst of the poison- 
ous smoke, The door is then closed and his friends retire a little distance, whilst the poor sufferer is lett 
to cry and shout and plead from the midst of the suffocating stream ; but he is often allowed @ rene ee 
isnre. snd finally he faints away. When he is thought sufficiently smoked the goats ee fe s ime 
scraped from the body, and deep gashes cut into the skin until the blood fiows reely, i epet a 
taken down and Jaid on his mats to await the result. In some cases death—in many, life an hea th, 
Wiliami had undergone this fearful process. He had taken ue of the es ey pins a 8 Vs 
way to the smoking-house told them his pitiable condition, his s lame as an ou He ; an 118 ib a 
suffer anything to obtain # cure, and much would depend on their firmness. wey ee no " o be Bote 
by his croans and eries, and, for the love they bore him, he begged them ke ae sg me . ae 
bbreatened to punish them if they performed it only half, Imagine Be ReN a By pees i 
lonely house. Wiliami’s companions, as much afraid of overdoing as underdoing their sad task, Jeay 
ean , by the heels in the midst of a thick black smoke; they retire to some distance, and 
poor leper draw ‘ vd ib - his piteous cries and groans, Some weep, some run home, others rush into the 
presently are horri sarge ry ee but, with Spartan-like endurance, he commands them not to terminate 
smoking-house to ines Bet coal a AL last they take him down—he is faint and exhausted—the 
his suffering until the process 1s complete. At last they ta 
operation has been successful. 
Wiliami is no longer.a leper, but again walks God’s earth a healthy man. 
a » 

