The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-01-22
sVOL. VINO. IA
The Upas rec.

A famous japanese tree 10 the notori,
Gus upas. or chettik, which was long re
msred to kill everybody who went un Ter
its shade. \ Dutch surgeon, wac is un-
derstoot TO have lived toward the close OF
the last century, is usually credited with
being the original inventor Of the apocry-
phal history Of this disagreeable vegetable
he tree was described as growing ID q
desert track with no other plant near it foI
= distance Of ten or twelve miles. Crimi-
nails condemned to die got the option Of
either suffering the extremity Of the law or
going to the upas tree and collecting some
Of the poison But not more than two out
OF twenty ever survived their dangerous ex
pedition.
The surgeon" claimed to have derived
his knowledge from those who hal been
lucky enough to escape with life ever =
desert strewn with the whitencd bones Of
their less fortune predecessors There are
no fish in the waters, nor has any rat
mouse or any other vermin been seen there,
and when any birds fly 30 near this tree
that the effiuvia reaches them they fall q
victim to the effects Of the poisoin.' Out
Of population Of 1000 persons VINO were
compelled, on account of civil dissensions,
to reside within few miles Of this tree,
only 300 remained in less than two
months. 1t is, however, unnecessary to
quote the Dutch surgeon" further, for it
is understood that DIR. Foersch' is a lis,
eraTy myth.
The account first appeared in the Lon
don Magazine, but no man, SO far as am
aware. has been able to discover the orig
inal of the tale, and is generally under
stood that the whole was the work Of Geo
Stevens, an INSCRIPTIONS aetiquary, who
was never happier than when entrapping
his contemporaries in the meshes of some
ingenious hoax. However, the story was
too attractive not to seize the imagination.
Erasmus Darwin embalmed it in hls state.
ly verses, poets Of less scientific type fol-
lowed his example, while painters inuu
merable We'd with each other in picturing
the scene of 50 much desOation. In reali-
ty the tree is a spunge Antidris toricar,o,(
which, when pierced, cxudes milky juice.
containing, as is usually the case with such
plants, an acrd poisoin.
But, 50 far from being as pestilent as de
scrbed, the tree has been cultivated in our
botanic gardens, and is known to grow In
the Java woods along with other vegetation,
which it does not in iure. and on its branch
es birds and lizards have been seen to perch
1t is, however. tair TO say that the soil on
which 1t grows is often cavernOus, and in
the valley of death exhales carbonic ac-
id and sulphurous vapors, which are fatal
to animal life, and that from the same caus-
es operating in the streams many of the lat
ter are destitute of fishes
The juice is used as an arrow poison,
and often causes disagreeAble irritation, or
worse, to those who climb the tree, or wear
a garment made of the inner bark. This
irritating character is, hewever common
to the juice of the order to which the upas
belongs The tree is not confined to Java,
for q traveller describes it as fourishng in
q valley near the town of Bruni, in Berneo,
by hills covered with dense
1t is, however, curious, as
proving that the ancient fales about it are
based on some foundation of fact that the
natives are afraid to 60 under its shade,
aud declare that birds who alight on its
branches often fall off dead