Batavia, the grape, but of a much smaller size. It is aspecies.of
” the pepper plant that affords the leaf called betel, .chewed
so iMjiyersall'Vi'bVjdie Aauthem Asiatics., and serving for
the .mdosure -ofaa few jslhaes or bits Jïf^thé-arecit, from
thenceerroneously called; ithe betel, nut. The areqaiMitt
tree is among the .smallest ctf the t ribe , of palms, jbfiat
comes next .in hejmty tojtJie mountain cabbage Aeee, of
the West Indies; .the latteridifiering, chiefly in ils'jsize
and amazingdieight,.fcQnLtheareca nut tree,.the.diameter
of whose :jointed trunk seldom ..exeeedslburinches;;,©r
height, twelve rfeet. But the -symmetry nf each : is perfect
; the .columns of.a temple cannot bee tmere xeguJter
than the trunk, whichnifses without a branch, »hilelthie
broad .and. spreading leaves .which .crown A c aypy form
the ornamented-capital. dh&aaiecajnut, when drig^hss
some similitude in »form ..and.taste 40 .thp .common nutmeg,
hut is .of .a less. size.
. Concerning the. supposed .upas, or .poison
of which.the aceènnthy.iEcjseBSoh atóraetedhtttó AJiQtiee,
at least in England, till it was admitted in amote tolDaer
tor Darwin’s celebrated poem .ofthe Botanic Garden,.enquiries
w^re made by DoGtor.Gillan, .andothershelong-
ing to, the Embassy. Foersch had certainly been a surgeon
jfor.some tin^e injava, andhadtravelledinto^ome .parts of
the interior of the country; but his relation of-a tree so
venomous .as to be destructive,hytits^exhalations, attsome
miles distance, is compared.thereto the fictions of Baron
Muyehausen, attetepFto impose upon
the credul%y o f persons aba distancyaiyet as it was ”
thought >a discpeditito thescauntry tnhe suspected o f .producing
auvbgetable.of so ^enomoussai-quality, a Dutch
dissertation hasheen written imrefutation of the story.
It appears from thence tthab information was < reqnjesBid,
on the part ohithe; Dutch goyernmebt ®#Batavia, horn
the,Jiajvahnse:.prince, in- w^aashiterratories this • dreadful
vegetable was asserted* t'Qj.^eagrawing^ and that the
.prince, in .his answer-,' denied any knowledge* of such a
prodiiokcmf. Rumphi£US,im|eed,ifcrespeetahle;autho.r in
natural history, ,of. theala^-century, mentions as frsle
growing ati.;Maca^sar, toKW.hdeh he -gfiyesHthe J name of
toxicaria; and zelgitesthat not only thexed resin CoMtaiii-
ed a .deadly .poison, but that the drops fallmg!fefliE?tlie
leaves, upon the men employed in dolle^tin^ diisi x y in
from the .trunk, produced* unlessifhey took particular
eareaB:coverang.t|idr.bq<h6s,> swellings and much illness^
and that Abe .exhalations drcmi the Frce^ were latalito some
small birds attempting to „perch upon its brandies: But
many of .the particulars of .this account,;I however-far
removed from .that of Eoerseb, aregiy§nn®@t upon* the
authors own.observation? and may have heen exaggerated.
It .is-a .common opinion vat Batavia thatuthere
.exists, in-that country, a .vegetable ;pois6n, which, rubbed
•on .the xlaggfers :of .the $ avanese^crenders the: slightest
„wounds irmuxable^i d 1© sofafflegEuropean praCtitpnel?
Batavia.