-B u g g e s s e s .
E f f e c t o f
U f a s P o is o n .
greater; they may be called the Tartars of the Sea; fome few
are ftationary, living in ftilted houfes clofe to the water’s edge;
others live altogether in boats, and with their families ihift their
quarters and change their refidence along with the Monfoons.
Mr. Forrejl computes that they have about feven hundred boats;
and adds, that they live chiefly on fifh, have a fquealing-voice,
and moll favage appearance. He fuppofes them to have been
originally fugitives from Mac'ajfar, Java, and other places.
T h e Buggejfes, or native Macajfars, are the braveft people in
India', o f proved fidelity, i f treated with confidence; o f the
deepeft revenge, i f infulted. They fpread far and wide on the
ocean in charadter of freebooters, and attack veffels with moil
aftonifhing defperation, elpecially when infpired by opium.
On land their arms are lances, or flender arrows, pointed with
the teeth o f fiih, dipped in the fatal poifon o f the Upas tree,
w.hich grows in this ifland. Thefe arrows they blow out.of
hollow trunks, and hit their mark at a confiderable diftance.
So fubtile is the venom, that it almoil inftantaneoufly effects de-
ftrudtion; nor do the Macajfars themfelves know any remedy.
Nieuboff faw feveral Hutch foldiers cured by fwallowing human
dung, by way o f a vomit; hut others died, notwithftanding the
filthy remedy. A certain root is fpoken o f growing in the
ifland which is ufed as an antidote. .
M. Tavernier was eye-witnefs to the rapid effedl o f this
poifon, which I think too Angular to be omitted: “ One day,”
fays he*, “ an Englijbman, in heat o f blood, had killed one o f
“ the king o f Macajfar's fubjedts; and though the king had
# Travels, p. ig i,
“ pardoned
“ p a r d o n e d h im , y e t b o t h Engli/b, Hollanders, a n d Portugals,
“ fearing if the Englijbman Ihould go unpuniflied, left the
“ iflanders Ihould revenge themfelves upon fome o f them, be-
“ fought the king to put him to death; which with much ado
“ being confented to, the king, unwilling to put him to a lin-
“ gering death, and defirous'to fliew the effedt of his poifon,
“ refolved to fhoot the criminal himfelf; whereupon he took a
“ long trunk, and Ihot him exadtly into the great toe o f the right
“ foot, the place particularly aimed at: two chirurgeons, one an
“ Englijbman and the other a Hollander, provided on purpofe,
“ immediately cut off the member; but for all that the poifon
“ had difperfed itfelf fo fpeedily, .that the Englijbman died at
“ the fame time.
“ A l l t h e k in g s a n d p r in c e s o f t h e e a f t a r e v e r y d i l i g e n t in
“ t h e i r e n q u i r y a f t e r f t r o n g p o i fo n s ; a n d I r em em b e r t h a t t h e
“ c h i e f o f the Dutch f a d t o r y a n d I t r ie d f e v e r a l p o i fo n e d a r r o w s ,
“ with which the king of Acheen had prefented him, by fhoot-
“ ing at fquirrels, who fell down dead as foon as ever they were
“ touched.”
Boutan, a fmall ifle near the fouth-eaft of Celebes, is inde- B o d t a n .
pendent, and has its fultan, who mimics all the ftate of a greater
monarch. Our countryman, Mr. David Middletonvifited this
ifland in 1609, and there paffed a ftrong intercourfe o f civilities
between him and the reigning prince. Middleton failed from
England with a commercial view ; nor would he have been disappointed,
had not the king’s rich magazine o f goods been juft
burnt by his enemies. The natives are like the Mindanayans in
* Purchas, i. 238.
N 2 ihape,