WHERE POISON RULES

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 189, 12 August 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

WHERE POISON RULES

"THE most popular method of 1 fishing the rivers of the great island of Borneo is by means of poison-tree leaves. These are immersed in the stream $ome distance above a rattan barrage, and the stupefied fish are gathered as the current brings them down. Birds in tliis dark land are poisoned 1 treated maize until they can be easily caught by band and cased for future disposal. All traces of the poison leave tbe system, both of fish and bird, in less than an hour, and tliev are then lit to eat. I o a people able in this way to obtain their game, starvation is a contingency that never enters the mind. Firearms are unknown in the interior, and quite unnecessary. A hunting party may take out as many as a dozen different poisons cm occasions; the one that will stupefy a wild boar may have no effect upon a running fleer, while the one calculated to put to fdeep for a brief period an elephant weighing several tons may be innocuous when injected by a blowpipe dart into tlic body of a passing bird; lint, whatever the need of the hour may be, the "bangsa" tribe wizard is able to produce just the medicine "the doctor ordered." Of the many poisons known to the Malay, few arc used to kill, so cases of fatal poisoning are rare, and practically non-existent if the venue is lined by a "Luan,'' either Government officer or planter. Autopsies are revealing tilings, and there are very few poisons, even in junglcland, that* leave no trace in the body, and in any case there is seldom the need to kill. * the \ ast majority of the poisons used by different -Malay bangsas are extracted trom leaves, roots and bark; different trees in different seasons "is the rule, but t here are many exceptions. The deadly hamadryad (King Cobra) is also used as a source of supply. He is tantalised into attacking a piece of calico, or bleached bark cloth, and emptying his glands into it. The poison is then >craped off for use. This poison is never fatal in its effects; it soon loses its power of death, and in any case the surface of a small dart cannot hold more than a microscopic amount of poison. It is never used if other suitable poisons are available, for it takes a long time to dissipate and is apt to leave an -unpleasant taste behind. In hunting, the blowpipe (sumpitan) and darts are used almost exclusively. The former is a long, tough, yet light, wood tube having a bore of about threeeighths of an inch—a bore that is a marvel of accuracy. It would appear to be the work of scientific machinery, until one speculates as to whether any existing lathe could bore a stick of one inch in diameter seven feet lon ol i without the cutter wobbling and per- i forating the circumference long before : the total length was bored. < The darts are slivers of bamboo fitted : in a pith plug which, completely fills the • bore. Often, when struck, the dart, on ] penetrating the surface, leaves the plug i

There Are Strange Occurrences In Borneo By-- " Cappy Ricks " outside and continues its journey some distance into the flesh, carrying with it its paralysing if not deadly poison. The poison which is to inflict death is extracted from the upas tree, the Ipoh Batang, and this is deadly enough for anything; a few seconds sometimes and all is over. Some years ago a ton of this tree was sent to Europe for extraction; they yielded, it was said, a little more than an ounce of poison; a Malay might have produced almost weight for weight. = At a certain river camp in North Borneo at the time of the Mohammedan festival of Hari Rava, a kerbau (water buffalo) had been purchased for the piece resistance of the "Makan Besar. It was of prodigious size and must have weighed nearly' two tons, but then the feast was to be" for more than 80 men, in addition to stray camp followers who might turn up uninvited. Oate-crashers are common in Malaya. One of the camp boys, who hanpencd to be the adopted son of the wizard, had sinned against one of the tenets of the faith : ,nd had been forbidden by the local Imam to participate mithe coming feast; he had been punished by being told off to look after tlie kerbau as it was confined in the compound, and to swish the jungle flies off its pachydermatous yet exceedingly tender hide, ° " histead of performing this duty, he watched his chance and disappeared into the jungle, emerging with a handful of leaves and bark. These he pounded on a stone and later took them to the fire "hen he returned to the compound he brought with him a pisang leaf smeared J a dark paste and some of this he placed on the ton sue. The neast took it and looked for more but his instinct failed him. He almost immediately began to shake all over his ?reat body. He took a few aimless lead-down rushes and then subsided iMth a crash against the stout posts of die compound. In i ess than thirtv -econds he was on his back with stiff legs upflung in the air, dead. At Tawau, in the same countrv. a murder had been committed; a case of e eternal triangle. . The ensuing police ourt case was a long and complicated >ne, and it resulted in the coining ~f e . Judicial Commissioner from the capital to try it. The chief witness for P J r °^ Uti ° n wa ® a somewhat dull»itted Tidong, whose evidence at the ►reiiminarr- proceedings had proved dw doubtless to intimi- j

dation. When flie Jndjjß tried to obtain evidence from this witness nothing happened; a subtle paralysing poison had been slipped into his morning meal right under the eyes of the police, in whose custody he was. and he was both deaf and dumb and in addition almost blind. A truly amazing case of collective poisoning once took place at the island of Simporna, a port of call for the coastal steamers, and a Government post, where the youthful Assistant I>istrict Officer lives in a battlemented, bar bed-wire -surrounded blockhouse, complete with firing slits, bastions and deience gallery. Connected with the l Qri r? j°ttT at nearly the shore end there stood ten years ago a large Chinese store and godown, built on stilts over the water. The building was a perfect rabbit warren in which about sixtv Chine>e of both sexes and all ages found sleeping place. Celestials sleep like animals with one e > e open and, naturally a timid race, they can be relied upon to spring to their feet collectively at the least unusual occurrence, be it danger or not. There can be no lighter sleepers in the world. One would be justified in believing that in no circumstances could thev ever be taken unawares; yet the Orang J f ut (Men of the Sea) demonstrated to the contrary. Tlie stilts of this rambling building were all connected up by stout slabs of ironwood and strong wire netting and the enclosure was put to use as a turtle paik, having only one gate for ingress and exit. On the date in question this contained more than thirty live turtles, liugo reptiles up to 40l)ib in weight, h\ no means easy creatures to handle. -The\ needed no guard; they were their own alarms, and this makes the subsequent proceedings tlie more ama/.ing. One morning at dawn the rabbit warren erupted in the usual wiim and iiW' turtle park was found in lie emptr. Nothing had occurred during the night, they ail agreed, and so did tile police on guard at the little blockhouse standing on a projecting tongue of coral rock a hundred yards over the water, and yet the park was empty, and the Chinese " iowKay. or his svndicate. was out of pocket a thousand Strait dollars. The mystery was explained away in the course of a few weeks, though the plunderers were never caught. Three boat load* came in the darkness <•' night, u usee n by the .-"tune-- (tho;;_how it i- difsi. iift to say frorr. 1! one of the outliers of "the Ph':ii:-pin>v some twenty miles a< ro-s the Huh; S- .i. \\ ithout being caught in their own toiithey somehow broadcast a sopori'ipoison which not only put t" -!•■■■:. tiisixty i 'liuiese. but also the thi:*tv :> • tile.- in the park, and it i- still a' ve\ijuestion a- tit whethei or not *h - - :»•> 1 ' "•entries and the ;l , , . .• , ... 'I a mile, came ;::• !•■.• ihe .. ii e'nce of Lliis subtle and alto_re ; i,.- r ~.yr-tcrioU' uoison. There are now no live turtles aaj-ked at it is not considered profitable.