Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1877 — The Deadly Upas Tree. [ARTICLE]

The Deadly Upas Tree.

Much that may be termed wonderful and curious has been said of ti e upas tree, and, while these statements have been generally received as credible, there are pot wanting those who are accustomed to regard all or most of such representations as intended merely for the credulous and superficial, and even the very existence of such a tree has by some writers been questioned—of course on account of the many absurd characteristics which have been attributed to it. We well remember, in fact, the interesting specimen of this growth, brought home in a flourishing condition fr#m Java, by Lieut. Marchland, of the United States navy; it being by great care preserved alive during the long voyage, and, a few days before its arrival at Norfolk, Va., the leaves be gan to sprout forth, as though it were in itanative climate and locality. It was presented to the National Institute, at Washington, and given a place among the rare tropical plants comprised in the collection of the new conservatory—and this notwithstanding the idea entertained by some of the poisonous effluvium of the tree being so fatal that birds flying over it dropped dead, and that all vegetation died under it and around it 1 More recently, a description has appeared of a superb tree of this kind below Bruni, Borneo, about two feet or more In diameter, and rising sixty feet without a branch, and then spreading with a dense green foliage, the frunk being smooth and of a dirty silvery color. To such an extent did the impression at one time possess people’s minds, in regard to the terrible properties of the upas, that the story was current and accepted that, in the country of its growth, it was held in high estimation for the poison which exuded from it, and was peculiarly valuable to the King, for the purpose of poisoning his arrows in warfare. But the procuring "of this poison was, it seems, a matter of much difficulty, for the noxious vapor from the tree had the power of killing all-who approached. Criminals, therefore, were the only ones employed in this dreadful service. Of these, several were every yearsent on the fearful errand, with a promise of paidon and reward if they returned with the precious poison gum. Hooded in leathern cases, with glass eyelet-holes, and secured as much as possible from the foul effluvia of the air they were to breathe, they undertook this melancholy journey, always traveling with the wind. About one in ten escaped death, and had the good fortune to bring away a little box of the direful commodity. The various facts, however, which have been,given by reputable travelers concerning this tree, ao not in fact warrant any of the popularly-received stories as to its malignity. Growing in various parts of Java, it is there well known as oqe of the largest trees of the forest, being described as having a stem or trunk cylindrical and perpendicular, and rising, completely naked, to the height of sixty, seventy or eighty feet, being coveted also with a whitish bark, slightly bursting in longitudinal furrows. Near the ground, the nark is in old trees more than half an inch thick, and, upon being wounded, It yields plentifully the milky juice from which the poison that has given such celebrity to the upas is prepared. It seems, from the observations made personally by Dr. Horsfleld and others, that a simple puncture er incision being made in the tree, the juice or sap appears oozing out, of a yellowish color, somewhat frothy, from old trees, bnt palerand nearly white from young ones. When exposed to the air its surface become* warm; the consistence very much resembles milk, only it is thicker and more viscid; and this sap is contained in the true bark, a cupful being soon obtained from a large tree. The inner bark, on being washed and bruised, furnishes a coarse stuff, suitable as a dress material for the natives, but one by no means agreeable, from the deleterious irritating quality peculiar to it. The tree has short boughs at the top, and flowers spring from the extremity of the branches. It may be not only approached, but ascended with safety; it delights in a fertile and not very elevated soil, and is only found in the largest forests. Like the trees in its neighborhood, It is on all sides surrounded by shrubs and plants, and in no instance has the ground about it been observed to be naked or barren; on the contrary, Dr. H. states that the largest tree of the kind he met with was so closely environed by the other treesand shrubs, that it was with difficulty he could reach it—vines and shrubs, in complete health, adhering to it. The complete variance between the experience of Horsfleld and the representations made by Dr. Foersch—and which excited so much wonder at the time on the part of the credulous—is surprising. A noted specimen of the upas, according to Foersch, was situated about twenty seven league* from Batavia, and aome fourteen

leagues from Soura-Charta, the place of theEmperor** residence. It grew fa a deep valley, entirely sqrroundcd by barren mountains. Being determined, however, to ge as near to the fatal spot as safety permitted, and having obtained the Emperor’s sanction for so doing, he states that he setoff and traveled entirely around the mountains that inclosed the upas valley, keeping always at the distance of eighteen miles from its center. At court a Malay priest had fhrnished him with a letter of introductien to another Malay priest, considerately placed by the Emperor to prepare the souls of the criminals who were sent to gather the poision of the tree. This priest, he says, lived at a place about fifteen miles from the tree, and was very kind and communicative. He stated that he had held his s«d office some thirty years, daring which time he had dispatched seven hundred individuals to the upas, of whom not two in twenty had returned. When the victims of justice chose this lot, so the story goes, they were generally instructed how to proceed with the greater chance of safety, and Individually presented with a silver or tortoise-shell box, in which they were to deposit their poison; they then put on their best clothes, and, accompanied by their friends and relatives, journeyed as far as the priest’s residence. who furnished them each with a pair of leather gloves, and a long leather cap which reached as far as the breast, having also two eye-holes with glasses to permit the wearer to see. When thus accoutered, the priest repeated the instructions for the journey, and, after taking leave of their friends, the criminals ascended a particular mountain pointed out to them—then descended on the other side, where they met a rivulet, whose course they were to follow, as it would Side them to the tree, and there their e awaited them. It is even asserted by Foersch that he was present at one of these melancholy departures, and had such close communication with the victims that he gave them some silken cords with which to measure the tree, and earnestly requested them to brin" him back a piece of wood, or a small branch, or a few of the leaves; he obtained, however, only two dry leaves, with the scanty information that the tree was one of middling size, with five or six youug ones of the same kind near it. A continual exhalation—according to the few who returned—issued from the tree, and was seen to rise and spread in the air, like the putrid steam of a marshy cavern; that whatever this vapor, or the miasmAta from it, touched it killed; that not a bush nor a blade of grass was found in the valley, nor on the surrounding mountains, for a circuit of many miles, all animal life, too, was extinct. But, leaving these highly-colored and legendary representations for the more satisfactory—because more recent and well confirmed—statements of scientific travelers, the process of preparing this well-known poison, and the effects produced by it, are points of peculiar interest To inform himself precisely as to these, Dr. Horsfleld took pains to get an old Javanese, noted for his skill, to attend to the preparation, which was observed to be as follows: About eight ounces of the juice, which had been collected the preceding evening and preserved in the joint of a bamboo, was carefully strained in a bowl; the sap of a variety of native substances, including common onion and garlic, was poured in; a quantity of finely-pounded black pepper was then added, and the mixture stirred. The preparer now took an entire pint of the Guinea pepper, and, carefully separating a single seed, placed it in the fluid, in the middle of the bowl; the seed immediately began to reel round rapidly, now forming a regular circle, then darting towards the margin of the cup with a perceptible commotion on the surface of the liquor, which continued about one minute. Being completely at rest, the same quantity of pounded pepper was again added, and another of the Guinea seeds laid on, as before; a similar commotion too place in the fluid, but in a less defree, ana the seed was carried round with iminished rapidity. The same quantity of pepper was added a third time, when, a Guinea seed being carefully placed in the center.of the fluid, it remained quiet, forming a regular circle about itself, in the fluid—this being considered a sign that the preparation of the poison is complete. The effect produced by the upas juice, when thus prepared, is thus described: A dog of middling size was wounded in the muscles of the thigh, with an arrow that bad been immersed in the poison, and had been exposed to the air one night; -in three minutes he seemed uneasy, trembled and had occasional twitchings, his hair stood erect, and, an attempt being made to oblige him to walk, he could with diffl culty support himself; in eight minutes he trembled violently and his breathing was hasty, then succeeded the vomiting of a frothy matter; in twenty-five minues he fell down suddenly, screamed, extended his extremities, which were convulsed, and died the next minute. In another experiment an animal of the ox tribe, or buffalo, large and healthy, was wounded by a dart somewhat larger, and immersed in the poison; the wound was made in the internal muscles of the thigh, about six grains of poison adhering to the wound, on the extrication of the dart; he died in great agony in a little more than two hours. A mouse, similarly wounded, died in ten minutes, a monkey in seven minutes and a cat in fifteen.— St. Louis Republican.