TRIBAL CUSTOMS 97 
with stiff bristles, is sometimes used by the native to scratch with, in the treat- 
ment of craw-craw, while the fruit of Hibiscus esculentus is employed as a mild 
aphrodisiac. ) 
The Cola acuminata (kola nut), of which there are several varieties in Liberia, 
is sometimes taken as a stimulant to the cardiac and nervous system. It causes 
a slight rise in blood pressure and is thought by the natives to increase muscu- 
lar power. The glucoside kolanin has been isolated from the kola nut. 
Some of the tribes also use the leaves of a verbenaceous plant, Stachytarpheta 
indica, which has blue verbena-like flowers and a long flower stalk, to make a 
decoction used in the treatment of fever. 
Nearer the coast trade gin is used as an ingredient in, and solvent for, a 
number of native medicines. Among the more common of these medicines are 
the leaves of Funtumia and of Colocasia and the leaves and juice of the citrus 
plants; the bark of the silk cotton tree, Ceiba, and the skin of the green banana, 
both burned to ashes. Extractions of kola nuts and of several species of acacia 
are made, and various preparations in which ginger and palm oil and wine are 
employed are also used as medicines. Kaolin and iron rust are sometimes em- 
ployed both internally and externally. 
The Liberian natives are of course familiar with a number of vegetable 
poisons. One of the most important is Strophanthus, one of the Apocynaceae, 
of which at least two species have been found in Liberia, — S. sarmentosus, and 
S. gratus. They grow in bushes which produce the striking pink pentacle-like 
flowers illustrated in No. 405. This poison has been used especially for poison- 
ing arrows. It is obtained by cooking the seeds in water and letting them 
evaporate to a syrupy, tarry mass. A small amount of vegetable resin is some- 
times added. The action of the poison is known to the medicine men and it 
is said to be used chiefly by them. Strophanthin is the active principle, but 
the species S. hispidus contains another substance known as pseudostrophanthin, 
which is more toxic to the heart muscle. After poisoning, the victim’s breathing 
and pulse become gradually slower until the heart beats suddenly cease. Fre- 
quently a convulsion occurs before death, the heart being arrested in systole. 
In smaller doses the drug acts as a circulatory stimulant. 
Another member of the Apocynaceae employed as a poison is Acanthocera 
sp. It is prepared by mixing a decoction of the wood and evaporating it over the 
fire until it attains a syrupy consistency. The gall bladder of an animal is often 
added to the mixture if it is to be painted over the heads of arrows. 
The poison known as Ouabain contains both an amorphous and a crystalline 
glucoside and produces very rapid death, which occurs after rapid irregular 
heart beats, rapid respirations and convulsions. Sometimes there is great loss 
of muscular power. 
Hyoscyamus falezlez, one of the Solanaceae is another poison employed by 
some of the natives in the interior. It produces symptoms like those produced 
by Ouabain, but it is not so powerful a poison. 
The bark of a tree of the Papilionaceous order Erythrophloeum guineense owes 
its poisonous action to the presence of an alkaloid erythrophlein. It is also a 
