Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS
k'lubi " (an acid jungle fruit), but this does not seem to
agree with the Sakai and Jakun prejudice, which is
directed against the eating of acid fruit with the flesh
of animals killed by the dart. On the other hand, the
eating of the earth would no doubt in itself be good.
Perak Semang. — De la Croix quotes ^ from Sir
Hugh Low's journal the results of some experiments
with Ipoh poison which Sir H. Low had carried out.
He quotes, inter alia, Sir Hugh Low's remark to the
effect that the Semang informed him that in preparing
their poison they mixed the sap of the tree- Ipoh with
that of a particular kind of climbing plant, and that
they then dried it immediately on a spatula over the
fire, no further preparation being required.
Sir Hugh Low is further quoted as writing that
on a particular day one Lela Perkasa had just brought
him some fresh sap from an Ipoh tree growing near-
by, the trunk of which had been cut down, and that
in view of previous experiences, he (Sir H. Low) had
the poison prepared in his own presence.^
The man began by making a small wooden spatula,
on which he spread successive layers of the poison.
This he dried gradually over a slow fire, or rather over
hot embers, the substance immediately turning a nutbrown
colour. He assured Sir Hugh that the poison
was thus carried on the spatula, and that when it was
required for use it was only necessary to moisten the
point of the arrow and rub it over the poison."*
The tree which furnished the sap had been cut
down, but young branches had sprouted since, and those
that he brought in proved that it was essentially the
same as an artocarpus, from which Sir H. had obtained
1 Sir H. Low, quoted by De la Croix, p. 331.
2 3* Ibid. Cp. L'Homme, ii. 620-622.
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