the fabled gardens o f the Hefperides in claflic lore, whofe ffa-
tionary centinel was a watchful dragon.
T h e Hutch call this tree MacaJJerne Ctift-baom, or Spatten-
boom ; and in the Malaye language it is termed Caju-Upas, that
is to fay poifon-tree, and the fruit Amply Upas. By the people
o f Macajfar, and throughout Celebes, both the tree and its poifon
are called Ipo-.
•The darts to which the natives apply this poifon, are a foot
or eighteen inches in length, very Aender, made of reed, or
light wood, and armed with the tooth o f the L.atnia fhark
fmeared with poifon.. Thefe are fixed in a tube five or fix feet
long, and blown by the breath o f the aflailant with great force
to the difiance o f piftol ih o t: upon reaching the deftined ob.-
jeCt, the barbed tooth adheres, and the wood only can be extracted,
or fometimes detaches itfelf, and falls to the ground.
The effeCt of the poifon is to produce a fenfation o f heat in all
parts o f the body,, and oppreflive Vertigo in the head, which is
prefently fucceeded by a total- debility, and. death within the
fpace of half an hour is the certain confequence.. Nay fo rapid
are its effects in fome inftances, as to prove fatal in lefs than a
quarter o f an hour* And farther, fo inftantaneoufly does its
virus pervade the whole human frame, that by experiments
made upon malefactors, it has been proved, that i f the thumb,
or the foot only be wounded by the poifonous dart, and amputation
immediately performed upon the affeCted member,
aftonifhing to relate! death infallibly enfues.
A f t e r a long intercourfe, and many bloody contefts w ith the
natives
natives o f Celebes, which may be ftiled the Colchos of India,
being an ifland noted for many other forts of poifon, the
Hutch acquired the knowlege o f fome fpecifics among the indigenous
plants, which difarmed this tremendous weapon of
much o f its terrors. Here are faid to be two fpecies o f the Ipo,
diftinguifhed by the names of male and female, and that the
poifon of the latter is much lefs efficacious than that of the former,
and ufed chiefly for the deffruCtion o f game. The juice
is extracted from the tree by piercing the bark o f the trunk,
and inferting therein long bamboos fharpened at the point. Four
or five o f thefe are fixed to one tree, and remain three or four
days, that the fap may leifurely diftil into them; and when filled
they are removed for ufe. -
Mr. N. P. Foerfcb, a Hutch furgeon ffationed at Batavia in
!774> gives the following account o f the fituation of the tree,
and thé manner o f collecting the poifon. The reader is left to
form a judgment o f the writer’s authority, and how far his credulity
is to be cenfured. “ It is,” fays be, “ feated about twenty-
“ feven leagues from Saura, the feat of the emperor, encircled
“ by high hills and mountains, and the country around, to the
■ diftance of ten or twelve miles, has neither tree nor fhrub, or
“ even the leaft plant or grafs. I have made the tour all around
“ this dangerous fpot, at about eighteen miles diftant from the
“ centre, and I found the afpeCt of the country, on all fides
“ equally dreary. The eafieft afcent o f the hills is from that
“ part where the old ecclefiaftic dwells. I had procured a re-
“ commendation from an old Malayan prieft, to another prieft
« who lives on the nearefi inhabitable fpot to the tree,, which is
u about