Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

332
WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS
Unpoisoned arrows (for small birds) were not
kirnished with any distinguishing mark.^
The amount of poison - made at a time is sufficient
for a quiver containing ("nominally") lOO arrows;
this, however, no doubt merely means that the
poison - makers of these tribes make rather more
poison at a time than they require to use, since no
quiver holds anything near the number mentioned.*
1 Vaughan-Stevens, ii. 107.
- 7b. There is nothing special to note
as regards this poison, for which see App.
' The following account of the
preparation of the jioison of the
Iknua is from Newbold :— "The
Benua employ throe preparations of the
Ipohor Upas poison to tip their arrows
with, these three kinds being distinguished
by the names ' Ipoh krohi,'
' Ipoh lennik ' or ' kennik,' and
' Ipoh mallaye.'
"The ' krohi ' is extracted from the
root and bark of the Ipoh tree, the
roots of the 'tuba' and ' kopah,' red
arsenic, and the juice of limes.
The ' tennik ' is made in the same
manner as the 'krohi,' leaving out the
' kopah ' root. The ' mallaye ' poison,
which is accounted the most potent of
the three, is prepared from the roots of
the 'tuba,' the 'perachi,' the 'kopah,'
and the ' chey ' ; and from that of the
shrub ' mallaye ' ; hence its name.
"The process of concocting these
preparations is as follows :—The roots
are carefully selected and cut at a
particular age of the moon ; probably
about the full. The woody fibre is
thrown away, and nothing but the
succulent bark used. This is put into
a ' kuali ' (a sort of earthen pipkin),
with as much soft water as will cover
the mass, and kneaded well together.
This done, more water is added, and
the whole is submitted to a slow heat
over a charcoal fire until half the water
has evaporated. The decoction is
next strained through a cotton cloth,
and again submitted to slow ebullition
until it attains the consistency of syrup.
Ked arsenic ('warangan'), which is
rubbed down in the juice of the sour
lime, the 'limau asam' of the Malays,
is then added, and the mixture jioured
into small bamboos, which are carefully
closed up ready for use. Some
of the tribes add a little opium, spices,
and saflVon ; some, the juice of the
lancha, and the bones of the sunggat-
lish burnt to ashes.
" A number of juggling incantations
are performed, and spells gibbered
over the seething caldron by the Poyangs,
by whom the fancied moment of
the projection of the poisonous prin-
ciple is as anxiously watched for as
that of the philosopher's stone or the
elixir vitae by the alchemists and philosophers
of more enlightened races.
When recently prepared the Ijx)h
poisons are all of a dark liver-brown
colour, of the consistency of syrup, and
emit a strongly narcotic odour. The
deleterious principle appears to be
volatile, as the efticacy of the poison is
diminished by keeping" (Newbold, ii.
pp. 400, 401).
Newbold further mentions—as the
only antidote of which the Benuas
could tell him— the fresh sap of a
shrub called " lemak kfpiting"
(" Lemmah kopiting " ; lit. = " crab's-
fat "), nibbed round and into the
wound, and afterwards over the limb
in which the puncture has been made.
— Newbold, ii. 402.
[For identifications, v. pp. 318, 319,
a?ite, and App. "Krohi" stands for
"kroi" in the Besisi dialect, "tennik"
for "tenet," "mallaye" for " malai "
( = " Blay " of Vaughan-Stevens,?),
"I'erachi" for " perachek " (or
" I'erachet "), and "chey" for Bes.