at both these assertions are exaggerated.

One day I asked a Sakai if he thought it possible to kill a man with
_legop_.

He replied that nearly every day animals of double the bulk and strength
of a man were killed in the forest, and that the poison supplied by this
creeper speedily fulfils its mission. As a proof of this he related that
once he was standing near a Javanese who had been guilty of violating a
woman. This man was hit by a poisoned dart and died almost immediately.

Without appearing in the least to doubt the fact I begged him to show me
the exact spot where the dart entered the poor fellow, and where it came
out, and from his indications I could convince myself that the dart
having penetrated under the shoulder blade had passed through the heart
from part to part and had been arrested in its course by the muscles of
the thorax.

It was therefore clear to me that death was due to the passage of the
dart through the victim's body and had nothing to do with the poison in
which the missile had been previously steeped. To my knowledge no
recognized studies have ever been made to ascertain the true force of
_legop_, so one is free to calculate it at its maximum or minimum,
especially when its susceptibility to atmospheric changes is considered.

When the weather is dry it carries death on the wing of the arrow, but
if it should be wet, or damp, the poison becomes moist and remains on
the surface of the wound (where it can be easily rubbed off) instead of
penetrating with the dart into the object aimed at.

And this was the disillusion of one who wanted to try its effects on a
dog. The poor beast howled with the pain but did not present any symptom
of poisoning.

* * * * *

Science alone can pronounce accurately upon the toxical qualities of the
_legop_ and I am always ready to assist it with my modest experience.

Wishing to solve every doubt and also to find out an antidote to this
poison I sacrificed many innocent creatures, but I will relate the
pitiful end of only two.

I selected a fine fowl full of healthy vigour and taking one of these
poisoned darts I made a wound of not more than a half an inch long upon
the upper part of its leg.

For a minute after it moved about slowly without even noticing the
wound, then it stopped as if overcome by a strange sense of stupor, but
soon began to peck the ground.

Two minutes and a half later it opened and shut its beak a