Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1830-10-22
THE-BoHON UPAS TREE

1t is rather singular phenomenon in the
economy of nature, that the island of Java
should produce at the same time TIE Man
gosieen, the most mellow aud luscious of
fruits, and deadly Upas, tho most malignant
of poisons--In the journal of botanist, late
ly deceased, whom Napoleon sent to Java in
1910, to make collections Of plants for the im.
periai garden at ST Cloud, we find facts,
which we present to our leaders. The
Bohon Upas is situated in O valley, watered
by rivulet, and encompassed by hills, at the
distance of fourteen leagues from Batavia.
The hill and mountains an its vicinage are
entirely barren and denuded, as no verdure
can vegitate where the breeze watts the pes.
tlential yapors that emit from the pestif.
erous gum of the Upas, The French botan-
list, anxious, Oh his return to France, to
have been able 10 lay before the EnApeIor y
correct description of the Javc tree, made, at
the risk OF his life, . tour all round this dan
gcrous spot, at about foui leagues distant
from its deleterious influence, and in every
direction Of his circuit, he found vegetation
literally annihilated, and the aspect of the
country the most dismal and dreary that
could he imagined Neac the easiest ascent
of one of the hills, about sixteen miles from
the station of the tree, there resided, then,
an old Malayan priest, whose Office il was to
prepare for eternity the souls Of those, who,
for different crimes, were sent TO procure the
poison, which is o comu odity that yields the
native government a considerable revenue.
The poison is gum, which, like the cam
phor, issues from the bark Malefactors I'M
der the sentence of death, are the onlypcr
sons who are compelled to gather this deadly
and baleful gum. The ministers of the ma
tive sovereign provide them with tortoise
shell box, in which they are to put the pes.
titerous gum. These devoted criminals
then proceed to the house of tho old priest,
where they remain unfit the wind blows in
favourable direction SO 20 bear the efhuvia
f tff e pf As spesarss tAAb bsesse
proac hing fate. Az The momen; of depart.
ure, the priest puts on them long leather
cap, with two glasses before their eyes,
which comes down TO the breast Thus g.
quIped, they set out on u journey to that fatal
'bourne" from which but few men return.
The;old ecclesiastie assured our traveller that
during residence Of thirty years on this
great thoroughofare of death, had witnessed
the departure to the Upas of more than eight
hundred unhappy beings, out of whom not
over thirty ever returned. Those who es-
capped the dreadful influence of the upas,
desert bed it middling sized tree, decorated
with branches of the most vivid verdure. Ii
broods sullenly over rivulet, as landmark
of vegetation, in the barren vale of wilder
| ness, over which it waves its poisoned
| foliage
While our traveller remained in the island
| of Java, he witnessed the following horrld
instance of the destructive power of the u
pas poison. In February, 1910. he was pre-
sent at the execution of twelve OF the Japa-
| nese kings mistresses, who were convicted
of being faithess to his bed.
The fair and interesting criminals were
led into the great court of the palace of Sou.
| rG Chdrta, where judge passed sentence of
| death on them. After going through many
! religious ceremonies, the executioner strip
| ped their breasts, and then claiming each Of
| the hapless dellnquents to post, he proceed
| ed to make an incison on the bosom with a
lancet poisoned with Upas. The operation
was performed on them.all in the space of
two minutes, and with such celebrity did the
poison destroy the vital principles, that these
| unfortunate women, the victims of a savage,
! were all dead in less than quarter Of an
hour
| "Some hours after their DEATH" says our
traveller, {" their bodies were full of livid
spots, their faces swelled, the color Of their
skin changed to kind of blue, and their
eyes were completely spotted with yellow
hues" We believe that medical men osti.
mate the Upas as .he most deadly of all vege-
table poisons. In times of war il is the prac-
tice o. the Malayans to throw the Upas gum
! into the springs and rivulets in order TO poi
, son them. The other parts Of the island of
| Java are remarkably healthy prolific and
, rich in a soil that produces an abundance of
| the finest fruits-such as the cocoa, palm,
chaddock, oranges, lemons, citrons, tama-
rinds, maDgoes, pine-apples, bananas, sweet
sops, grapes, custard apples, melons, pome.
| graDates, figs, and the delicious maDgosteep,
esteemed the best fruit of the east. The tree
| on which it grows is extremely beautiful,
and gaily arrayed like the orange tree, in the
| spangled vesture of fruit and flowers.