The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-01-11
The Deadly Upas Tree.

tions'a as intended merely for the credul0us
and superficial, and even the very exist
ence of such tree has by some writers
been questiOned-Of course on account of |
the many absurd characteristics which
have been attributed to it. We we'll re-
member, in fact, the interesting specimen
of this growth, brought home in -four |
ishing condition from Java, by Lieut.. |
Marchland, of the United States navy; it
being by great care preserved alive during |
the long voyage, and, few days before |
its arrival at Norfolk, Va, the leaves be
gan to sprout forth, as though it were in |
its native climate and locality. 1t was |
presented to the National Institute, ut |
Washington, and given place among the |
rare tropical plants comprised in the col |
lection of the new conservatory-and this |
notwithstanding the idea entertained by |
some of the poisonous eff1uvium of the |
tree being SO fatal that birds flying over it |
dropped dead, and that all vegetation died
under it and around it! More recently,
description has appeared of superb tree
OF this kind below Bruni, BOrncO, about
sixty feet without branch, and then
spreading with dense green foliage, the
trunk being smooth and of dirty silvery
color.
TO such an extent did the impression
at one time possess peoples minds, in re-
gard 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 III warfare. But the
procuring of this poison was, it seems, a
matter of much difficulty, for the nox-
ious 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 year sent on the fearful GRAND,
with promise of pardon and reward il
they returned with the precious poison
gum. Hooded in leathern cases, with
glass eyelet-holes, and secured as much as
possible from the foul etfluvia of the air
they were to breathe, they undertook this
melancholy journey, always travelling
with the wind. About one in ten escaped
death, and had the good fortune to bring
away a little box of the direful commod-
ity.
The various facts, however, which have
been given by reputable travellers con-
corning this tree, do not in fact warrant
any OF the popularly-receivcd stories as
to its malignity. Growing in various
parts of Java, it is there well known as
one of the largest trees of the forest, be-
ing described as having stem or trunk
cylindrical and perpendicular, and ris-
ing, completely naked, to the height OF
sixty, seventy or eighty feet, being COW
elcd also with whitish bark, slightly
bursting in longitudinal burrows. Near
the ground, the bark is in old trees more
than half an inch thick, and, upon being
wounded, 1t yields plcntifully the milky
juice from which the poison that has
given such celebrity to the upas is pre-
pared.
1t seems, from the observations made
personally by DIR. Horsfield and others,
that simple puncture or incision being
made in the tree, the juice or sap appears
oozing out, of yellowish color, some
what trothy, from old trees, but paler and
nearly white from young ones. When
exposed to the air its surface becomes
warm the cOnsistence very much rcsem-
bles milk, only it is thicker and more
viscid; and this sap is contained
in the true bark, a cupful being soon OBJ
tanned 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 branch
cs. 1t may he not only approached, but
assembled with safety; it delights in a fer
tile and not very elevated soil, and is only
found in the largest forests. Like the
| n:.rI1, - Sc al CO.
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 en-.
vironed by the other trees and shrubs, that
it was with difficulty he could reach it
vines and shrubs, in complete health, ad.
herring to it.
The complete variance between the ex.
pericnce of Horstield and the representa-
lions 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 tC
Foersch, was situated about twenty seven
leagues from Batavia, and some fourteen
leagues from Soura- Charta, the place OF
the Emperor's residence. 1t grew in q
deep valley, entirely surrounded by barren
mountains. Being determined, however,
to go as near to the fatal spot as safety
permitted, and having obtained the EN-
peror's sanction for so doing, he states
that he set off and travelled entirely around
the mountains that inclOsed the upas val.
ley, keeping always at the distance OF
eighteen miles from its center. At court
Malay priest had furnished him with a
letter of introduction to another Malay
priest, considerably placed by the EN-
peror to prepare the souls of the criminals
who were sent to gather the poision of the
tree. This priest, he says, lived at q
place about fifteen miles from the tree
and was very kind and communicative
He stated that he had held his sad office
some thirty years, during which time he
had dispatched seven hundred individual:
to the upas, of whom not two in twenty
had returned.
When the victims of Justice chose thi.
lot, SO the story goes. they were generally
instructed how to proceed with the great
er chance of safety, and individually pre-
sented 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 rela
tives, jOurneyed as far as the priests resi-
dence, who furnished them each with ,
pair of leather gloves, and long leather
cap which reached as far as the breast
having also two eye-holes with glasses t.
permit the wearer to see. When thus &C
coutered, the priest repeated the instruc
tons for the journey, and, after taking
leave of their friends, the criminals as
cended particular mountain pointed GU
to them-then descended on the othe
side, where they met a rivulet, who's
course they were to follow, as it wOult
guide them to the tree, and there thei
fate awaited them.
1t is even asserted by Foersch that h
was present at one of these melanchol,
departures, and had such close communi
cation with the victims that he gave then
some silkcn cords with which to measure
the tree, and earnestly requested them t
bring him back piece of wood, or
small branch, or few of the leaves; h
obtained, however, only two dry leaves
with the scanty information that the ire
was one Of middling size, with five or 81:
young ones of the same kind near it.