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lesitation ; and on the morrow brings back the deadly gum, and
some drooping stalks and leaves, while from his pallid brow the
cold sweat falls in streams. He staggers, falls on the mats of
the tent, and, poor miserable slave, expires at the feet of his
proud master. And the prince steeps his ruthless arrows in
the cruel poison ; they are destined to carry destruction to his
neighbours across the frontier.
In Mexico there grows a herb, familiarly known there as the
Loco or Rattle Weed, which has such a powerful effect on animals,
that horses eating it are driven raving mad.
In Scotland there is a certain weed that grows in and about
the Borgie Well at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, which possesses
the awful property of making all who drink of its waters mad.
Hence the local saying :
“ A drink of the Borgie, a bite of the weed.
Sets a’ the Cam’slang folk wrang in the head.”
Some few plants are repellent from the obnoxious smells
which they emit: among these are the Phallus impudicus, and many
of the Stapelias. One—the Carrion-flower—has an odour so like
putrid meat, that flesh flies, attracted by it, deposit their ova in the
flowers; and when the maggots are in due course produced, they
perish miserably for lack of food.
Zahn, in his Speculcc Physico-Mathematico-HistoriciE (1696) enumerates
several trees and plants which had, in his day, acquired a
very sinister reputation. He tells us that—
“ Herrera speaks of a tree, m Granada, called Aquapura,
wdiich is so poisonous, that when the Spaniards, at first ignorant
of its deadly power, slept under its shade, their members were all
swelled, as if they had taken dropsy. The barbarians also, who
lingered naked or intoxicated under it, had their skin broken by
large swellings, Avhich distended their intestines, and brought them
to a miserable death.
“ There is a tree in Hispaniola, bearing Apples of a very fragrant
smell, which, if they are tasted, prove hurtful and deadly. I f any
one abides for a time beneath its shade he loses sight and reason,
and cannot be cured save by a long sleep. Similar trees are found
la the island Codega.
“ In the same island, Hispaniola, another kind of tree is found
which produces fruit formed like Pears, very pleasant to the sight,
and of delicious odour. If any one lies beneath its shade and falls
asleep, his face begins to swell, and he is seized with severe pain
in the head, and with the sorest cold. In the same island another
tree is found, whose leaf, if touched, causes at once a tumour of
a very painful nature to break out, which can only be checked and
nealed by freqiient washing with sea water. There also grows a
plant called Cohobha, which is said to be lymphatic. It intoxicates
by its mere smell, and renders fanatical. Cardanus believes this
plant to be of the Stramonium {Datura) family, which • infuriates
those who drink it.
“ In New Andalusia very poisonous trees are seen. I f one of
their leaves were to fall upon a person, he would be killed at once,
unless the place be quickly smeared with the spittle of a fasting
man. These trees are called pestiferous and pestilent, from the
sudden death which they cause, like the plague.
“ In the island of San Juan de Porto Ricco grow certain small
fruit-bearing trees which are so pernicious that if a person lies
down and sleeps beneath their shade, he is seized with paralysis
and cannot move from the place. Should, perchance, a fish taste
of their fallen leaves, and a man eat the fish, he either dies at
once or at least loses all his hair.
“ On an island near Brazil a very pleasant tree is said to
grow, whose leaves are not unlike those of the Laurel. But
if any person should touch a leaf of this tree, and then touch
his face and eyes with the hand, he is at once deprived of sight
and suffers the severest pains in his eyes. Not far distant,
however, there grows another tree, whose leaves, if rubbed over
the eyes, restore the eyesight, and remove the pains.
“ Kircher relates that a wonderful tree is found in the Philippine
Islands. Its leaves, facing eastward, are healthy, but those
facing westward are poisonous.
“ Clusius states that in America there is a kind of Larch,
which makes men who sleep under its shade so delirious, that when
they are’awakened, they are out of their minds and assume strange
attitudes. Some act like prophets, some like soldiers, some like
merchants, everyone for the time being as his natural propensity
impels him.
“ In the bishopric of New Spain, called Antequera, around the
valley of Guaxaca, a strange poisonous plant is found which, if
given to anyone in food or drink, at once causes death. I f it is
dried and removed anywhere, according to the time from its being
cut, it kills. Thus : if it has been cut for a year, so after a year it
causes death ; if for a month, then after a month it brings death.
“ The inhabitants of Macassar in the island of Celebes obtain
from a certain tree growing there a most deadly and virulent poison,
in which they dip their weapons. So pestiferous is this poisonous
tree, that the earth around it for some distance produces neither
grass nor vegetable life of any kind. Although instant death may
sometimes be avoided by means of antidotes, yet the victim is
doomed to die even after a lapse of two or three years. Married
men and Mushroom-eaters are more subject to the action of this
poison than other people.
“ Ophiusa, in the island of Elephantine, in Ethiopia, has a livic.
and horrid appearance. I f persons drink it they become dreadfully
afraid of serpents—so much so, that they commit suicide. Palm
wine, however, is said to counteract its influence.