In Miscellanea Curiosa, sive Ephemeridum.
Academiae Nature Curiosorum, Dec. II. Annus Tertius.
Anni MDCLXXXIV., Norimbergae (1685), pp. 127 seqq. 1704.Ipo seu Hypo arbor est mediocris,
folio parvo, et obscure virenti, quae tam malignae et nocivae qualitatis, ut omne vivens umbrâ suâ interimat,
unde narrant in circuitu, et umbrae distinctu, plurima ossium mortuorum hominum animaliumque videri.
Circumvicinas etiam plantas enecat, et aves insidentes interficere ferunt, si Nucis Vomicae Igasur, plantam
non invenerint, qua reperta vita quidem donantur et servantur, sed defluvium patiuntur plumarum.
Hypo
lac Indi Camucones et Samoales, Hispanis infensissimi, longis, excipiunt arundineis perticis, sagittis
intoxicandis deserviturum irremediabile venenum, omnibus aliis alexipharmacis superius, praeterquam
stercore humano propinato. An Argensolae arbor comosa, quam Insulae Celebes ferunt, cujus umbra
occidentalis mortifera, orientalis antidotum?
De Quibusdam Arboribus Venenatis, in Herbarum aliarumque
Stirpium in Insula Luzone
a Revdo Patre Georgio Camello, S.J. Syllabus ad Joannem Raium transmissus.
In Appendix, p. 87, of Joan. Raii Hist. Plantarum. Vol. III. (London 1704).
1712.Maxima autem celebritas
radiculae enata est, ab eximia illa virtute, quam adversus toxicum Macassariense praestat, exitiale illud,
et vix alio remedio vincibile. Est venenum hoc succus lacteus et pinguis, qui collegitur ex recens sauciata
arbore quadam, indigenes Ipu, Malajis Javanisque Upà dictâ, in abditis locis sylvarum Insulae Celebes
crescente
cujus genuinum et in solâ Macassariâ germinantis succum, qui colligere suscipiunt, praesentissimis
vitae periculis se exponant necesse est. Nam ad quaerendam arborem loca dumis beluisque infesta
penetranda sunt, inventa vero, nisi eminus vulneretur, et ab eâ parte, a qua ventus adspirat, vel aura
incumbit, aggressores erumpento halitu subito suffocabit. Quam sortem etiam experiri dicuntur volucres,
arborem recens vulneratam transvolantes. Collectio exitiosi liquoris, morti ob patrata maleficia damnatis
committitur, eo pacto, ut poena remittatur, si liquorem reportaverint
Sylvam ingrediuntur longâ instructi
arundine
quam altera extremitate
ex asse acuunt, ut ad pertundendam arboris corticem valeat.
Quam
longe possunt, ab arbore consituti, arundinis aciem arbori valide intrudunt, et liquoris, ex vulnere effluentis,
tantum excipiunt, quantum arundinis cavo ad proximum usque internodium capi potest.
Reduces, supplicio
et omni discrimine defuncti, hoc vitae suae [Greek Text] lutron Regi offerunt. Ita narrarunt mihi populares
Celebani, hodie Macassari dicti. Quis autem veri quicquam ex Asiaticorum ore referat, quod figmentis
non implicatur
?Kaempfer, Amoen. Exot., 575576.
1726.But among all sorts of trees, that occur
here, or hereabouts, I know of none more pernicious than the sap of the Macassar Poison tree * * *
They say that there are only a few trees of this kind, occuring in the district of Turatte on Celebes, and
that none are employed except, at a certain time of the year when it is procurable, those who are condemned
to death, to approach the trees and bring away the poison.
The poison must be taken with the greatest
care in Bamboos, into which it drips slowly from the bark of the trees, and the persons collected for this
purpose must first have their hands, heads, and all exposed parts, well wound round with cloths.
Valentijn,
iii. 218.
1783.The following description of the BOHON Upas, or POISON TREE, which
grows in the Island of Java, and renders it unwholesome by its noxious vapours, has been procured for
the London Magazine, from Mr. Heydinger, who was employed to translate it from the original Dutch,
by the author, Mr. Foersch, who, we are informed, is at present abroad, in the capacity of surgeon on
board an English vessel.
In the year 1774, I was stationed at Batavia, as a surgeon, in the service of the Dutch East India Company.
During my residence there I received several different accounts of the Bohon-Upas, and the violent
effects of its poison. They all then seemed incredible to me, but raised my curiosity in so high a degree,
that I resolved to investigate this subject thoroughly.
I had procured a recommendation from an old
Malayan priest to another priest, who lives on the nearest habitable spot to the tree, which is about fifteen
or sixteen miles distant. The letter proved of great service to me on my undertaking, as that priest is
employed by the Emperor to reside there, in order to prepare for eternity the souls of those who, for
different crimes, are sentenced to approach the tree, and to procure the poison.
Malefactors, who, for
their crimes, are sentenced to die, are the only persons to fetch the poison; and this is the only chance
they have of saving their lives.
They are then provided with a silver or tortoise-shell box, in which they
are to put the poisonous gum, and are properly instructed how to proceed, while they are upon their
dangerous expedition. Among other particulars, they are always told to attend to the direction of the
winds; as they are to go towards the tree before the wind, so that the effinvia from the tree are always
blown from them.
They are afterwards sent to the house of the old priest, to which place they are commonly
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