The Book Of Curiosities Part 33

In the church-yard of Aldworth, in Berks.h.i.+re, is a yew tree, the trunk of which, four feet from the ground, measures nine yards in circ.u.mference. It is of considerable height: all recollection of its age is lost.

THE SHELTON OAK.--About a mile and a half from Shrewsbury, where the Pool road diverges from that which leads to Oswestry, there stands an ancient decayed oak. There is a tradition, that Owen Glendwr (Glynder) ascended this tree to reconnoitre; and finding that the king was in great force, and that the Earl of Northumberland had not joined his son Hotspur, he fell back to Oswestry, and immediately after the battle of Shrewsbury, retreated precipitately to Wales. This tree is now in a complete state of decay, and hollow, even in the larger ramifications. The following are the dimensions of the Shelton Oak:

ft. in.

Girt, at bottom, close to the ground 44 3 Ditto, 5 feet from ditto 25 1 Ditto, 8 feet from ditto 27 4 Height of the tree 41 6

Vide Gent. Mag. vol. lx.x.xi. p. 305.

THE BOWTHORPE OAK, situate in the park between Bourne and Stamford--

"On a fine eminence, of slow ascent, The landscape round stretch'd to a vast extent,"

--is the property of Philip Duncombe Pauncefort, Esq. The trunk is thirty-nine feet six inches in circ.u.mference. The inside of the body is hollow, and the lower part of it was formerly used as a feeding place for calves, the upper, as a pigeon-house. The late possessor, George Pauncefort, Esq. (in whose family it has been for many centuries,) in 1768 had it floored, with benches placed round, and a door of entrance: frequently twelve persons have dined in it with ease.

"--------------crowds yearly flock to see In leafy pomp the celebrated tree; Charm'd to contemplate Nature's giant son, Fed by the genial seasons as they run."

No tradition is to be found respecting it, it having, ever since the memory of the oldest inhabitants, or their ancestors, been in the same state of decay.

We conclude this chapter with an essay on the UPAS, or POISON-TREE OF JAVA; by Thomas Horsefield, M. D.--From the Seventh Volume of the Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Java.

The literary and scientific world has in few instances been more grossly and impudently imposed upon, than by the account of the Bohan Upas, published in Holland about the year 1780. The history and origin of this celebrated forgery still remains a mystery. Foersch, who put his name to the publication, certainly was (according to the information I have received from credible persons, who have long resided on the island,) a surgeon in the Dutch East India Company's service, about the time the account of the Upas appeared. It would be in some degree interesting to become acquainted with his character. I have been led to suppose that his literary abilities were as mean, as his contempt of truth was consummate.

Having hastily picked up some vague information concerning the Upas, he carried it to Europe, where his notes were arranged, doubtlessly by a different hand, in such a form as, by their plausibility and appearance of truth, to be generally credited.

But though the account just mentioned, in so far as relates to the situation of the Poison Tree, to its effects on the surrounding country, and to the application said to have been made of the Upas on criminals in different parts of the island, as well as the description of the poisonous substance itself, and its mode of collection, has been demonstrated to be an extravagant forgery,--the existence of a tree in Java, from whose sap a poison is prepared, equal in fatality, when thrown into the circulation, to the strongest animal poisons. .h.i.therto known, is a fact, which it is at present my object to establish and to ill.u.s.trate.

The tree which produces this poison, is called Antshar, and grows in the eastern extremity of the island.

The Antshar is one of the largest trees in the forests of Java. The stem is cylindrical, perpendicular, and rises completely naked to the height of sixty, seventy, or eighty feet. Near the surface of the ground it spreads obliquely, dividing into numerous broad appendages or wings, much like the _Canarium commune_, and several others of our large forest trees. It is covered with a whitish bark, slightly bursting in longitudinal furrows.

Near the ground this bark is, in old trees, more than half an inch thick; and, upon being wounded, it yields plentifully the milky juice from which the celebrated poison is prepared. A puncture or incision being made in the tree, the juice or sap appears oozing out, of a yellowish colour, somewhat frothy; from old trees, paler; and nearly white from young ones: when exposed to the air, its surface becomes brown. The consistence very much resembles milk, only it is thicker and viscid. This sap is contained in the true bark, or cortex, which, when punctured, yields a considerable quant.i.ty, so that in a short time a cupful may be collected from a large tree. The inner bark, or liber, is of a close fibrous texture, like that of the _Morus papyrifera_, and when separated from the other bark, and cleansed from the adhering particles, resembles a coa.r.s.e piece of linen.

It has been worked into ropes, which are very strong, and the poorer cla.s.s of people employ the inner bark of younger trees, which is more easily prepared, for the purpose of making a coa.r.s.e stuff, which they wear when working in the fields. But it requires much bruising, was.h.i.+ng, and a long immersion in water, before it can be used; and even when it appears completely purified, persons wearing this dress, on being exposed to the rain, are affected with an intolerable itching, which renders their flimsy covering almost insupportable.

It will appear, from the account of the manner in which the poison is prepared, that the deleterious quality exists in the gum, a small portion of which still adhering to the bark, produces, when it becomes wet, this irritating effect; and it is singular, that this property of the prepared bark is known to the Javanese, in all places where the tree grows, (for instance, in various parts of the provinces of Bangil and Malang, and even at Onarang,) while the preparation of a poison from its juice, which produces a mortal effect when introduced into the body by pointed weapons, is an exclusive art of the inhabitants of the eastern extremity of the island.

One of the regents in the eastern districts informed me, that having many years ago prepared caps or bonnets from the inner bark of the Antshar, which were stiffened in the usual manner with thick rice-water, and handsomely painted, for the purpose of decorating his mantries, they all decidedly refused to wear them, a.s.serting that they would cause their hair to fall off.

I first met with the Antshar in the province of Poegar, on my way to Bangoow.a.n.gee: in the province of Blambangan, I visited four or five different trees, from which this description has been made, while two of them furnished the juice for the preparation of the upas. The largest of these trees had, where the oblique appendages of the stem entered the ground, a diameter of at least ten feet; and where the regularly round and straight stem began, a distance of at least ten feet from the points of the two opposite appendages at the surface of the ground, its diameter was full three feet. I have since found a very tall tree in Pa.s.sooroow.a.n.g, near the boundary of Malang, and very lately I have discovered several young trees in the forests of j.a.para, and one tree in the vicinity of Onarang. In all these places, though the inhabitants are unacquainted with the preparation and effect of the poison, they distinguish the tree by the name of Antshar. From the tree I found in the province of Pa.s.sooroow.a.n.g, I collected some juice, which was nearly equal in its operation to that of Blambangan. One of the experiments to be related below, was made with the upas prepared by myself, after my return to the chief village. I had some difficulty in inducing the inhabitants to a.s.sist me in collecting the juice, as they feared a cutaneous eruption and inflammation, resembling, according to the account they gave of it, that produced by the _Ingas_ of this island, the _Rhus vernix_ of j.a.pan, and the _Rhus radicans_ of North America; but they were only affected by a slight heat and itching of the eyes. In clearing the new grounds in the environs of Bangoow.a.n.gee for cultivation, it is with much difficulty the inhabitants can be made to approach the tree, as they dread the cutaneous eruption which it is known to produce when newly cut down.

But except when the tree is largely wounded, or when it is felled, by which a large portion of the juice is disengaged, the effluvia of which, mixing with the atmosphere, affects the persons exposed to it with the symptoms just mentioned, the tree may be approached and ascended like the other trees in the forests.

The Antshar, like trees in its neighbourhood, is on all sides surrounded by shrubs and plants; in no instance have I observed the ground naked or barren in its immediate circ.u.mference.

The largest tree I met with in Blambangan, was so closely environed by the common trees and shrubs of the forest in which it grew, that it was with difficulty I could approach it. Several vines and climbing shrubs, in complete health and vigour, adhered to it, and ascended to nearly half its height. And at the time I visited the tree and collected the juice, I was forcibly struck with the egregious misrepresentation of Foersch. Several young trees, spontaneously sprung from seeds that had fallen from the parent, reminded me of a line in Darwin's Botanic Garden,

"Chained at his root two scion demons dwell;"

while in recalling his beautiful description of the Upas, my vicinity to the tree gave me reason to rejoice that it is founded on fiction. The wood of the Antshar is white, light, and of a spongy appearance.

CHAP. x.x.xV.

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES.--(_Continued._)

_Curious Plant near the Cape of Good Hope--The Mandrake--Changeable Flower--Chinese Method of Preparing Tea--Antiquity of Sugar--Curious Effects of Cinchona, or Peruvian Bark--Curious Particulars of a Pound Weight of Cotton-wool--Animated Stalk--Animal Flower._

"Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts, Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints."

CURIOUS PLANT NEAR THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

The following account of a curious plant is taken from Thunberg's Travels:--

"The fruit of a species of _Mesembryan Thermum_, (says the writer,) was sometimes brought to the tavern as a rarity, and was called _Rosa de Jericho_. When it is put into water, it gradually opens all its seed-vessels, and exactly resembles a sun; and when it becomes dry again, it contracts itself, and closes by degrees. This is a no less necessary than singular property, which points out the admirable inst.i.tution of an all-wise Creator; inasmuch as this plant, which is found in the most arid plains, keeps its seeds fast locked up in time of drought, but when the rainy season comes, and the seeds can grow, it opens its receptacles, and lets fall the seeds, in order that they may be dispersed abroad. The water in which this fruit has lain, is sometimes given to women that are near their time, and is thought to procure them an easy delivery."

THE MANDRAKE.--This plant possesses a long taper root resembling the parsnip, running three or four feet into the ground; immediately from the crown of the root arises a circle of leaves, at first standing erect, but when grown to the full size, they spread open and lie upon the ground; these leaves are more than a foot in length, and about five inches broad in the middle, of a dark green colour, and a fetid scent; among these come out the flowers, each on a scape three inches in length; they are five-cornered, of an herbaceous white colour, spreading open at top like a primrose, having five hairy stamens, and a globular germ supporting an awl-shaped style, which becomes a globular soft berry, when full-grown as large as a nutmeg, of a yellowish green colour, and when ripe, full of pulp.

Many singular facts are related of this plant, among which we select the following: the roots have been supposed to bear a resemblance to the human form, and are figured as such in the old herbals, being distinguished into the male with a long beard, and the female with a prolix head of hair.

Mountebanks carry about fict.i.tious images, shaped from roots of bryony and other plants, cut into form, or forced to grow through moulds of earthenware, as mandrake-roots. It was fabled to grow under a gallows, where the matter falling from the dead body, gave it the shape of a man; to utter a great shriek, or terrible groans, at the digging up: and it was a.s.serted, that he who would take up a plant of mandrake, should in common prudence tie a dog to it for that purpose, for, if a man should do it himself, he would surely die soon after. To this curious vegetable the poet alludes in the following lines:--

"Mark how that rooted mandrake wears His human feet, his human hands; Oft as his shapely form he rears, Aghast the frighted ploughman stands."

THE CHANGEABLE FLOWER.--"On the island of Lewchew, (says Mr. M'Leod,) is found a remarkable production, about the size of a cherry-tree, bearing flowers, which, alternately on the same day, a.s.sume the tint of the rose or lily, as they are exposed to suns.h.i.+ne or the shade. The bark of this tree is of a dark green, and the flowers bear a resemblance to our common roses. Some of our party, whose powers of vision were strong, (a.s.sisted by a vigorous imagination.) fancied that, by attentive watching, the change of hue, from white to red, under the influence of the solar ray, was actually perceptible to the eye: that, however, they altered their colour in the course of a few hours, was very obvious."

As this is a chapter devoted to miscellaneous articles of this cla.s.s, it may not be amiss to insert THE CHINESE METHOD OF PREPARING TEA.--Tea grows on a small shrub, the leaves of which are collected twice or thrice every year. Those who collect the leaves three times a year, begin at the new moon which precedes the vernal equinox, whether it falls at the end of February or the beginning of March. At that period most of the leaves are perfectly green, and hardly fully expanded: but these small and tender leaves are accounted the best of all; they are scarce, and exceedingly dear.

The second crop, or the first with those who collect the leaves only twice a year, is gathered about the end of March or beginning of April. Part of the leaves have then attained to maturity; and though the rest have acquired only half their size, they are both collected without any distinction.

The third (or second with some) and last crop, is more abundant, and is collected about the end of April, when the leaves have attained their full growth, both of size and number. Some people neglect the two first crops, and confine themselves entirely to this, the leaves of which are selected with great care, and distributed into cla.s.ses, according to their size or goodness.--Tea ought to be rejected as of a bad quality, when old, and withered leaves are found amongst it, which may be easily known by infusing a little of it in water, for then the leaves dilate, and return to their natural state.

The leaves of the tea shrub are oblong, sharp-pointed, indented on the edges, and of a very beautiful green colour. The flower is composed of five white petals, disposed in the form of a rose, and is succeeded by a pod, of the size of a filbert, containing two or three small green seeds, which are wrinkled, and have a disagreeable taste. Its root is fibrous, and spreads itself out near the surface of the ground.

This shrub grows equally well in a rich, as in a poor soil. It is to be found all over China, but there are certain places where the tea is of a better quality than in others. Some people give the preference to the tea of j.a.pan, but we have reason to doubt whether there is any real difference.

The manner of preparing tea is very simple. When the leaves are collected, they are exposed to the steam of boiling water, in order to soften them; and they are then spread out upon metal plates, and placed over a moderate fire, where they acquire that shrivelled appearance which they have when brought to Europe.

In China, there are only two kinds of the tea shrub; but the Chinese, by their industry, have considerably multiplied each of them. If there are, therefore, large quant.i.ties of tea in that country which are excessively dear, there is some also very common, and sold at a low rate. The Chinese, however, are very fond of good tea, and take as much pains to procure it of an excellent quality, as the Europeans do to procure excellent wine.

_Bohea Tea._--The Chinese name of this tea is _vou-y-tcha_, that is to say, tea of the third kind, called _vou-y_. It takes its name from a mountain in the province of Fokien. There are three kinds of this tea: the first of which, called common Bohea, grows at the bottom of the mountain; the second, called _cong fou_, or _camphou_, grows at the top; and the third, named _saot-chaon_, grows in the middle. These names in England are corrupted into congo, and souchong.

Bohea teas in general ought to be dry, and heavy in the hand: this is a sign that the leaves have been full and juicy. When infused, they ought to communicate to the water a yellow colour, inclining a little to green, which indicates that they are fresh, for old tea produces a red colour.

Care must be taken above all to avoid red leaves, and to choose such as are large and entire. This is also a sign of freshness; for the longer tea is kept, the more it is shaken, which breaks the leaves, and mixes them with a great deal of dust. It sometimes happens, however, that the tea-dust is owing to the manner in which it is put into the box, as the Chinese tread upon it with their feet, to make the box hold a large quant.i.ty. The leaves of the cong-fou and saot-chaon ought to have a beautiful black s.h.i.+ning tint, and to communicate to water a very bright yellow and a mild taste.