Upas

the Malay word for poison. The name is given by the natives to a number of vegetable poisons and to a tree beneath whose deadly shade man, bird, and beast were supposed to die. The deadly upas tree is a native of Sunda and the Philippines. It is a tall tree with a bare trunk and spreading top, related to the breadfruit. It has a white spongy bark an inch in thickness, which exudes a milky juice. From this, with a mixture of black pepper, ginger, and other roots, the Malays prepare a poison for their arrows that proves fatal both to man and to the larger animals. The victim is seized with severe nausea and dies in convulsions like those of lockjaw. The odor of the tree causes irruptions of the skin, as does the smoke from its burning wood, but its mere presence is not at all dangerous. Birds nest in its branches and animals seek its shade without inconvenience, but it is dreaded by the natives, who avoid its neighborhood. The exaggerated tales which are told of the upas tree are believed to owe their origin to a narrow valley in Java in which neither animal or vegetable life can subsist owing to the prevalence of carbonic acid gas. From all accounts this vale is something like the Death Gulch of our National Yellowstone Park. See Poison