Chapter XC: Act III: of 1873. Under that system the highest rank of native Judge was (9)

UPAS, s. This word is now, like JUGGERNAUT, chiefly used in English as a customary metaphor, and to indicate some institution that the speaker wishes to condemn in a compendious manner. The word _upas_ is Javanese for poison; [Mr. Scott writes: "The Malay word _ūpas_, means simply 'poison.' It is Javanese _hupas_, Sundanese _upas_, Balinese _hupas_, 'poison.' It commonly refers to vegetable poison, because such are more common. In the Lampong language _upas_ means 'sickness.'"] It became familiar in Europe in connection with exaggerated and fabulous stories regarding the extraordinary and deadly character of a tree in Java, alleged to be so called. There are several trees in the Malay Islands producing deadly poisons, but the particular tree to which such stories were attached is one which has in the last century been described under the name of _Antiaris toxicaria_, from the name given to the poison by the Javanese proper, viz. _Antjar_, or _Anchar_ (the name of the tree all over Java), whilst it is known to the Malays and people of Western Java as _Upas_, and in Celebes and the Philippine Islands as _Ipo_ or _Hipo_. [According to Mr. Scott "the Malay name for the 'poison-tree,' or any poison-tree, is _pōhun ūpas_, _pūhun ūpas_, represented in English by BOHON-UPAS. The names of two poison-trees, the Javanese _anchar_ (Malay also _anchar_) and _chetik_, appear occasionally in English books ... The Sundanese name for the poison tree is _bulo ongko_."] It was the poison commonly used by the natives of Celebes and other islands for poisoning the small bamboo darts which they used (and in some islands still use) to shoot from the blow-tube (see SUMPITAN, SARBATANE).

The story of some deadly poison in these islands is very old, and we find it in the _Travels_ of Friar Odoric, accompanied by the mention of the disgusting antidote which was believed to be efficacious, a genuine Malay belief, and told by a variety of later and independent writers, such as Nieuhof, Saar, Tavernier, Cleyer, and Kaempfer.

The subject of this poison came especially to the notice of the Dutch in connection with its use to poison the arrows just alluded to, and some interesting particulars are given on the subject by Bontius, from whom a quotation is given below, with others. There is a notice of the poison in De Bry, in Sir T. Herbert (whencesoever he borrowed it), and in somewhat later authors about the middle of the 17th century. In March 1666 the subject came before the young Royal Society, and among a long list of subjects for inquiry in the East occur two questions pertaining to this matter.

The illustrious Rumphius in his _Herbarium Amboinense_ goes into a good deal of detail on the subject, but the tree does not grow in Amboyna where he wrote, and his account thus contains some ill-founded statements, which afterwards lent themselves to the fabulous history of which we shall have to speak presently. Rumphius however procured from Macassar specimens of the plant, and it was he who first gave the native name (_Ipo_, the Macassar form) and assigned a scientific name, _Arbor toxicaria_.[274] Passing over with simple mention the notices in the appendix to John Ray's _Hist. Plantarum_, and in Valentijn (from both of which extracts will be found below), we come to the curious compound of the loose statements of former writers magnified, of the popular stories current among Europeans in the Dutch colonies, and of pure romantic invention, which first appeared in 1783, in the _London Magazine_. The professed author of this account was one Foersch, who had served as a junior surgeon in the Dutch East Indies.[275] This person describes the tree, called BOHON-UPAS, as situated "about 27 leagues[276] from Batavia, 14 from Soura Karta, the seat of the Emperor, and between 18 and 20 leagues from Tinkjoe" (probably for _Tjukjoe_, _i.e._ Djokjo-Karta), "the present residence of the Sultan of Java." Within a radius of 15 to 18 miles round the tree no human creature, no living thing could exist. Condemned malefactors were employed to fetch the poison; they were protected by special arrangements, yet not more than 1 in 10 of them survived the adventure. Foersch also describes executions by means of the Upas poison, which he says he witnessed at Sura Karta in February 1776.

The whole paper is a very clever piece of sensational romance, and has impressed itself indelibly, it would seem, on the English language; for to it is undoubtedly due the adoption of that standing metaphor to which we have alluded at the beginning of this article. This effect may, however, have been due not so much directly to the article in the _London Magazine_ as to the adoption of the fable by the famous ancestor of a man still more famous, Erasmus Darwin, in his poem of the _Loves of the Plants_. In that work not only is the essence of Foersch's story embodied in the verse, but the story itself is quoted at length in the notes. It is said that Darwin was warned of the worthlessness of the narrative, but was unwilling to rob his poem of so sensational an episode.

Nothing appears to be known of Foersch except that there was really a person of that name in the medical service in Java at the time indicated. In our article ANACONDA we have adduced some curious particulars of analogy between the Anaconda-myth and the Upas-myth, and intimated a suspicion that the same hand may have had to do with the spinning of both yarns.

The extraordinary _éclat_ produced by the Foerschian fables led to the appointment of a committee of the Batavian Society to investigate the true facts, whose report was published in 1789. This we have not yet been able to see, for the report is not contained in the regular series of the _Transactions_ of that Society; nor have we found a refutation of the fables by M. Charles Coquebert referred to by Leschenault in the paper which we are about to mention. The poison tree was observed in Java by Deschamps, naturalist with the expedition of D'Entrecasteaux, and is the subject of a notice by him in the _Annales de Voyages_, vol. i., which goes into little detail, but appears to be correct as far as it goes, except in the statement that the Anchar was confined to Eastern Java. But the first thorough identification of the plant, and scientific account of the facts was that of M. Leschenault de la Tour. This French savant, when about to join a voyage of discovery to the South Seas, was recommended by Jussieu to take up the investigation of the Upas. On first enquiring at Batavia and Samarang, M. Leschenault heard only fables akin to Foersch's romance, and it was at Sura Karta that he first got genuine information, which eventually enabled him to describe the tree from actual examination.

The tree from which he took his specimens was more than 100 ft. in height, with a girth of 18 ft. at the base. A Javanese who climbed it to procure the flowers had to make cuts in the stem in order to mount. After ascending some 25 feet the man felt so ill that he had to come down, and for some days he continued to suffer from nausea, vomiting, and vertigo. But another man climbed to the top of the tree without suffering at all. On another occasion Leschenault, having had a tree of 4 feet girth cut down, walked among its broken branches, and had face and hands besprinkled with the gum-resin, yet neither did he suffer; he adds, however, that he had washed immediately after. Lizards and insects were numerous on the trunk, and birds perched upon the branches. M. Leschenault gives details of the preparation of the poison as practised by the natives, and also particulars of its action, on which experiment was made in Paris with the material which he brought to Europe. He gave it the scientific name by which it continues to be known, viz. _Antiaris toxicaria_ (N.O. _Artocarpeae_).[277]

M. Leschenault also drew the attention of Dr. Horsfield, who had been engaged in the botanical exploration of Java some years before the British occupation, and continued it during that period, to the subject of the Upas, and he published a paper on it in the _Batavian Transactions_ for 1813 (vol. vii.). His account seems entirely in accordance with that of Leschenault, but is more detailed and complete, with the result of numerous observations and experiments of his own. He saw the _Antiaris_ first in the Province of Poegar, on his way to Banyuwangi. In Blambangan (eastern extremity of Java) he visited four or five trees; he afterwards found a very tall specimen growing at Passaruwang, on the borders of Malang, and again several young trees in the forests of Japāra, and one near Onārang. In all these cases, scattered over the length of Java, the people knew the tree as _anchar_.

Full articles on the subject are to be found (by Mr. J. J. Bennet) in Horsfield's _Plantae Javanicae Rariores_, 1838-52, pp. 52 _seqq._, together with a figure of a flowering branch pl. xiii.; and in Blume's _Rumphia_ (Brussels, 1836), pp. 46 _seqq._, and pls. xxii., xxiii.; to both of which works we have been much indebted for guidance. Blume gives a drawing, for the truth of which he vouches, of a tall specimen of the trees. These he describes as "_vastas, arduas, et a ceteris segregatas_,"—solitary and eminent, on account of their great longevity, (possibly on account of their being spared by the axe?), but not for any such reason as the fables allege. There is no lack of adjoining vegetation; the spreading branches are clothed abundantly with parasitical plants, and numerous birds and squirrels frequent them. The stem throws out 'wings' or buttresses (see Horsfield in the _Bat. Trans._, and Blume's Pl.) like many of the forest trees of Further India. Blume refers, in connection with the origin of the prevalent fables, to the real existence of exhalations of carbonic acid gas in the volcanic tracts of Java, dangerous to animal life and producing sterility around, alluding particularly to a paper by M. Loudoun (a Dutch official of Scotch descent), in the _Edinburgh New Phil. Journal_ for 1832, p. 102, containing a formidable description of the Guwo Upas or Poison Valley on the frontier of the Pekalongan and Banyumas provinces. We may observe, however, that, if we remember rightly, the exaggerations of Mr. Loudoun have been exposed and ridiculed by Dr. Junghuhn, the author of "_Java_." And if the Foersch legend be compared with some of the particulars alleged by several of the older writers, _e.g._ Camell (in Ray), Valentijn, Spielman, Kaempfer, and Rumphius, it will be seen that the _basis_ for a great part of that _putida commentatio_, as Blume calls it, is to be found in them.

George Colman the Younger founded on the Foerschian Upas-myth, a kind of melodrama, called the _Law of Java_, first acted at Covent Garden May 11, 1822. We give some quotations below.[278]

Lindley, in his _Vegetable Kingdom_, in a short notice of _Antiaris toxicaria_, says that, though the accounts are greatly exaggerated, yet the facts are notable enough. He says cloth made from the tough fibre is so acrid as to verify the Shirt of Nessus. My friend Gen. Maclagan, noticing Lindley's remark to me, adds: "Do you remember in our High School days (at Edinburgh) a grand Diorama called THE UPAS TREE? It showed a large wild valley, with a single tree in the middle, and illustrated the safety of approach on the windward side, and the desolation it dealt on the other."

[For some details as to the use of the Upas poison, and an analysis of the Arrow-poisons of Borneo by Dr. L. Lewin (from _Virchow's Archiv. fur Pathol. Anat._ 1894, pp. 317-25) see _Ling Roth, Natives of Sarawak_, ii. 188 _seqq._ and for superstitions connected with these poisons, _Skeat, Malay Magic_, 426.]

c. 1330.—"En queste isole sono molte cose maravigliose e strane. Onde
alcuni arbori li sono ... che fanno veleno pessimo.... Quelli uomini sono
quasi tutti corsali, e quando vanno a battaglia portano ciascuno uno
canna in mano, di lunghezza d'un braccio e pongono in capo de la canna
uno ago di ferro atossiato in quel veleno, e sofiano nella canna e l'ago
vola e percuotelo dove vogliono, e 'ncontinente quelli ch'è percosso
muore. Ma egli hanno la tina piene di sterco d'uomo e una iscodella di
sterco guarisce l'uomo da queste cotali ponture."—_Storia di Frate
Odorigo_, from Palatina MS., in _Cathay, &c._, App., p. xlix.

c. 1630.—"And (in Makasser) which is no lesse infernall, the men use long
canes or truncks (cald Sempitans—see SUMPITAN), out of which they can
(and use it) blow a little pricking quill, which if it draw the lest drop
of blood from any part of the body, it makes him (though the strongest
man living) die immediately; some venoms operate in an houre, others in a
moment, the veynes and body (by the virulence of the poyson) corrupting
and rotting presently, to any man's terrour and amazement, and feare to
live where such abominations predominate."—_Sir T. Herbert_, ed. 1638, p.
329.

c. 1631.—"I will now conclude; but I first must say something of the
poison used by the King of Macassar in the Island of Celebes to envenom
those little arrows which they shoot through blowing-tubes, a poison so
deadly that it causes death more rapidly than a dagger. For one wounded
ever so lightly, be it but a scratch bringing blood, or a prick in the
heel, immediately begins to nod like a drunken man, and falls dead to the
ground. And within half an hour of death this putrescent poison so
corrupts the flesh that it can be plucked from the bones like so much
_mucus_. And what seems still more marvellous, if a man (_e.g._) be
scratched in the thigh, or higher in the body, by another point which is
_not_ poisoned, and the still warm blood as it flows down to the feet be
merely touched by one of these poisoned little arrows, swift as wind the
pestilent influence ascends to the wound, and with the same swiftness and
other effects snatches the man from among the living.

"These are no idle tales, but the experience of eye-witnesses, not only
among our countrymen, but among Danes and Englishmen."—_Jac. Bontii_,
lib. v. cap. xxxiii.

1646.—"Es wachst ein Baum auf _Maccasser_, einer Cüst auf der Insul
_Çelebes_, der ist treflich vergiftet, dass wann einer nur an einem Glied
damit verletzet wird, und man solches nit alsbald wegschlägt, der Gift
geschwind zum Hertzen eilet, und den Garaus machet" (then the antidote as
before is mentioned).... "Mit solchem Gift schmieren die _Bandanesen_
Ihre lange Pfeil, die Sie von grossen Bögen, einer Mannsläng hoch, hurtig
schiessen; in _Banda_ aber tähten Ihre Weiber grossen Schaden damit. Denn
Sie sich auf die Bäume setzten, und kleine Fischgeräht damit schmierten,
und durch ein gehöhlert Röhrlein, von einem Baum, auf unser Volck
schossen, mit grossen machtigen Schaden."—_Saar, Ost-Indianische
Funfzehen-Jahrige Kriegs-Dienste_ ... 1672, pp. 46-47.

1667.—"_Enquiries for_ Suratt, _and other parts of the East Indies_.

* * * * *

"19. Whether it be true, that the only Antidote hitherto known, against
the famous and fatal _macassar-poison_, is _human ordure_, taken
inwardly? And what substance that poison is made of?"—_Phil. Trans._ vol.
ii. Anno 1667 (Proceedings for March 11, 1666, _i.e._ N.S. 1667), d. 417.

1682.—"The especial weapons of the Makassar soldiers, which they use
against their enemies, are certain pointed arrowlets about a foot in
length. At the foremost end these are fitted with a sharp and pointed
fish-tooth, and at the butt with a knob of spongy wood.

"The points of these arrows, long before they are to be used, are dipt in
poison and then dried.

"This poison is a sap that drips from the bark of the branches of a
certain tree, like resin, from pine-trees.

"The tree grows on the Island Makasser, in the interior, and on three or
four islands of the Bugisses (see BUGIS), round about Makassar. It is
about the height of the clove-tree, and has leaves very similar.

"The fresh sap of this tree is a very deadly poison; indeed its virulence
is incurable.

"The arrowlets prepared with this poison are not, by the Makasser
soldiers, shot with a bow, but blown from certain blow-pipes (_uit zekere
spatten gespat_); just as here, in the country, people shoot birds by
blowing round pellets of clay.

"They can with these in still weather hit their mark at a distance of 4
rods.

"They say the Makassers themselves know no remedy against this poison ...
for the poison presses swiftly into the blood and vital spirits, and
causes a violent inflammation. They hold (however) that the surest remedy
for this poison is ..." (and so on, repeating the antidote already
mentioned).—_Joan Nieuhof's Zee en Land Reize_, &c., pp. 217-218.

c. 1681.—"_Arbor Toxicaria_, IPO.

"I have never yet met with any poison more horrible and hateful, produced
by any vegetable growth, than that which is derived from this lactescent
tree.

* * * * *

Moreover beneath this tree, and in its whole circumference to the
distance of a stone-cast, no plant, no shrub, or herbage will grow; the
soil beneath it is barren, blackened, and burnt as it were ... and the
atmosphere about it is so polluted and poisoned that the birds which
alight upon its branches become giddy and fall dead * * * all things
perish which are touched by its emanations, insomuch that every animal
shuns it and keeps away from it, and even the birds eschew flying by it.

"No man dares to approach the tree without having his arms, feet, and
head wrapped round with linen ... for Death seems to have planted his
foot and his throne beside this tree...." (He then tells of a venomous
basilisk with two feet in front and fiery eyes, a crest, and a horn, that
dwelt under this tree). * * *

"The Malays call it _Cayu_ UPAS, but in Macassar and the rest of Celebes
it is called IPO.

* * * * *

"It grows in desert places, and amid bare hills, and is easily discerned
from afar, there being no other tree near it."

* * * * *

—_Rumphii, Herbarium Amboinense_, ii. 263-268.

1685.—"I cannot omit to set forth here an account of the poisoned
missiles of the Kingdom of _Macassar_, which the natives of that kingdom
have used against our soldiers, bringing them to sudden death. It is
extracted from the Journal of the illustrious and gallant admiral, H.
Cornelius Spielman.... The natives of the kingdom in question possess a
singular art of shooting arrows by blowing through canes, and wounding
with these, insomuch that if the skin be but slightly scratched the
wounded die in a twinkling."

(Then the old story of the only antidote)....

The account follows extracted from the Journal.

* * * * *

"There are but few among the Macassars and Bugis who possess the real
knowledge needful for selecting the poison, so as to distinguish between
what is worthless and what is highest quality.... From the princes (or
Rajas) I have understood that the soil in which the trees affording the
poison grow, for a great space round about produces no grass nor any
other vegetable growth, and that the poison is properly a water or
liquid, flowing from a bruise or cut made in the bark of those trees,
oozing out as sap does from plants that afford milky juices.... When the
liquid is being drawn from the wounded tree, no one should carelessly
approach it so as to let the liquid touch his hands, for by such contact
all the joints become stiffened and contracted. For this reason the
collectors make use of long bamboos, armed with sharp iron points. With
these they stab the tree with great force, and so get the sap to flow
into the canes, in which it speedily hardens."—Dn. Corn. Spielman ... _de
Telis deleterio Veneno infectis in_ Macassar, _et aliis Regnis Insulae_
Celebes; _ex ejus Diario extracta. Huic praemittitur brevis narratio de
hac materia Dn._ Andreae Cleyeri. In _Miscellanea Curiosa, sive
Ephemeridum.... Academiae Naturae Curiosorum_, Dec. II. Annus Tertius.
Anni MDCLXXXIV., Norimbergae (1685), pp. 127 _seqq._

1704.—"IPO seu HYPO arbor est mediocris, folio parvo, et obscure virenti,
quae tam malignae et nocivae qualitatis, ut omne vivens umbrâ suâ
interimat, unde narrant in circuitu, et umbrae distinctu, plurima ossium
mortuorum hominum animaliumque videri. Circumvicinas etiam plantas
enecat, et aves insidentes interficere ferunt, si Nucis Vomicae _Igasur_,
plantam non invenerint, qua reperta vita quidem donantur et servantur,
sed defluvium patiuntur plumarum.... HYPO lac Indi _Camucones_ et
_Sambales_, Hispanis infensissimi, longis, excipiunt arundineis perticis,
sagittis intoxicandis deserviturum irremediabile venenum, omnibus aliis
alexipharmacis superius, praeterquam stercore humano propinato. An
Argensolae _arbor comosa_, quam _Insulae Celebes_ ferunt, cujus umbra
occidentalis mortifera, orientalis antidotum?..."—_De Quibusdam Arboribus
Venenatis_, in _Herbarum aliarumque Stirpium in Insula Luzone_ ... a
Revdo Patre Georgio Camello, S.J. _Syllabus ad_ Joannem Raium
_transmissus_. In Appendix, p. 87, of _Joan. Raii Hist. Plantarum_. Vol.
III. (London 1704).

1712.—"Maxima autem celebritas radiculae enata est, ab eximia illa
virtute, quam adversus toxicum Macassariense praestat, exitiale illud, et
vix alio remedio vincibile. Est venenum hoc succus lacteus et pinguis,
qui collegitur ex recens sauciata arbore quadam, indigenes IPU, Malajis
Javanisque UPÀ dictâ, in abditis locis sylvarum Insulae Celebes ...
crescente ... cujus genuinum et in solâ Macassariâ germinantis succum,
qui colligere suscipiunt, praesentissimis vitae periculis se exponant
necesse est. Nam ad quaerendam arborem loca dumis beluisque infesta
penetranda sunt, inventa vero, nisi eminus vulneretur, et ab eâ parte, a
qua ventus adspirat, vel aura incumbit, aggressores erumpento halitu
subito suffocabit. Quam sortem etiam experiri dicuntur volucres, arborem
recens vulneratam transvolantes. Collectio exitiosi liquoris, morti ob
patrata maleficia damnatis committitur, eo pacto, ut poena remittatur, si
liquorem reportaverint ... Sylvam ingrediuntur longâ instructi arundine
... quam altera extremitate ... ex asse acuunt, ut ad pertundendam
arboris corticem valeat.... Quam longe possunt, ab arbore constituti,
arundinis aciem arbori valide intrudunt, et liquoris, ex vulnere
effluentis, tantum excipiunt, quantum arundinis cavo ad proximum usque
internodium capi potest.... Reduces, supplicio et omni discrimine
defuncti, hoc vitae suae λυτρον Regi offerunt. Ita narrarunt mihi
populares Celebani, hodie Macassari dicti. Quis autem veri quicquam ex
Asiaticorum ore referat, quod figmentis non implicatur...?"—_Kaempfer,
Amoen. Exot._, 575-576.

1726.—"But among all sorts of trees, that occur here, or hereabouts, I
know of none more pernicious than the sap of the Macassar Poison tree * *
* They say that there are only a few trees of this kind, occuring in the
district of _Turatte_ on Celebes, and that none are employed except, at a
certain time of the year when it is procurable, those who are condemned
to death, to approach the trees and bring away the poison.... The poison
must be taken with the greatest care in Bamboos, into which it drips
slowly from the bark of the trees, and the persons collected for this
purpose must first have their hands, heads, and all exposed parts, well
wound round with cloths...."—_Valentijn_, iii. 218.

1783.—"The following description of the BOHON UPAS, or POISON TREE, which
grows in the Island of Java, and renders it unwholesome by its noxious
vapours, has been procured for the _London Magazine_, from Mr. Heydinger,
who was employed to translate it from the original Dutch, by the author,
Mr. Foersch, who, we are informed, is at present abroad, in the capacity
of surgeon on board an English vessel....

* * * * *

"'In the year 1774, I was stationed at Batavia, as a surgeon, in the
service of the Dutch East India Company. During my residence there I
received several different accounts of the _Bohon_-UPAS, and the violent
effects of its poison. They all then seemed incredible to me, but raised
my curiosity in so high a degree, that I resolved to investigate this
subject thoroughly.... I had procured a recommendation from an old
Malayan priest to another priest, who lives on the nearest habitable spot
to the tree, which is about fifteen or sixteen miles distant. The letter
proved of great service to me on my undertaking, as that priest is
employed by the Emperor to reside there, in order to prepare for eternity
the souls of those who, for different crimes, are sentenced to approach
the tree, and to procure the poison.... Malefactors, who, for their
crimes, are sentenced to die, are the only persons to fetch the poison;
and this is the only chance they have of saving their lives.... They are
then provided with a silver or tortoise-shell box, in which they are to
put the poisonous gum, and are properly instructed how to proceed, while
they are upon their dangerous expedition. Among other particulars, they
are always told to attend to the direction of the winds; as they are to
go towards the tree before the wind, so that the effluvia from the tree
are always blown from them.... They are afterwards sent to the house of
the old priest, to which place they are commonly attended by their
friends and relations. Here they generally remain some days, in
expectation of a favourable breeze. During that time the ecclesiastic
prepares them for their future fate by prayers and admonitions. When the
hour of their departure arrives the priest puts them on a long leather
cap with two glasses before their eyes, which comes down as far as their
breast, and also provides them with a pair of leather gloves....

"The worthy old ecclesiastic has assured me, that during his residence
there, for upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above seven hundred
criminals in the manner which I have described; and that scarcely two out
of twenty returned," ... &c. &c.—_London Magazine_, Dec. 1783, pp.
512-517.

The paper concludes:

"[We shall be happy to communicate any authentic papers of Mr. Foersch to
the public through the London Magazine.]"

1789.—

"No spicy nutmeg scents the vernal gales,
Nor towering plantain shades the midday vales,
* * * * *
No step retreating, on the sand impress'd,
Invites the visit of a second guest;
* * * * *
Fierce in dread silence on the blasted heath
Fell UPAS sits, the Hydra Tree of death;
Lo! from one root, the envenom'd soil below,
A thousand vegetative serpents grow ..." etc.
_Darwin, Loves of the Plants_;
in _The Botanic Garden_, Pt. II.

1808.—"_Notice sur le_ Pohon UPAS _ou Arbre à_ Poison; _Extrait d'un
Voyage inédit dans l'Intérieur de l'Ile de Java, par_ L. A. Deschamps,
D.M.P., _l'un des compagnons du Voyage du Général d'Entrecasteaux_.

"C'est au fond des sombre forêts de l'ile de Java que la nature a caché
le _pohun_ UPAS, l'arbre le plus dangereux du règne végétal, pour le
poison mortel qu'il renferme, et plus celèbre encore par les fables dont
on l'a rendu le sujet...."—_Annales des Voyages_, i. 69.

1810.—"Le poison fameux dont se servent les Indiens de l'Archipel des
_Moluques_, et des iles de la _Sonde_, connu sous le nom d'IPO et UPAS, a
interessé plus que tous les autres la curiosité des Européens, parce que
les relations qu'on en a donné ont été exagérées et accompagnées de ce
merveilleux dont les peuples de l'Inde aiment à orner leurs
narrations...."—_Leschenault de la Tour_, in Mémoire sur le Strychnos
Tieute _et l_'Antiaris toxicaria, _plantes venimeuses de l'Ile de_
Java.... In _Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle_, Tom. XVIième, p.
459.

1813.—"The literary and scientific world has in few instances been more
grossly imposed upon than in the account of the _Pohon_ UPAS, published
in Holland about the year 1780. The history and origin of this forgery
still remains a mystery. Foersch, who put his name to the publication,
certainly was ... a surgeon in the Dutch East India Company's service
about the time.... I have been led to suppose that his literary abilities
were as mean as his contempt for truth was consummate. Having hastily
picked up some vague information regarding the OOPAS, he carried it to
Europe, where his notes were arranged, doubtless 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 ... 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 hitherto known, is
a fact."—_Horsfield_, in _Batavian Trans._ vol. vii. art. x. pp. 2-4.

1822.—"The Law of Java," a Play ... _Scene._ Kérta-Sûra, and a desolate
Tract in the Island of Java.

* * * * *

"Act I. Sc. 2.

_Emperor._ The haram's laws, which cannot be repealed,
Had not enforced me to pronounce your death,
* * * * *
One chance, indeed, a slender one, for life,
All criminals may claim.

_Parbaya._ Aye, I have heard
Of this your cruel mercy;—'tis to seek
That tree of Java, which, for many a mile,
Sheds pestilence;—for where the UPAS grows
It blasts all vegetation with its own;
And, from its desert confines, e'en those brutes
That haunt the desert most shrink off, and tremble.

Thence if, by miracle, a man condemned
Bring you the poison that the tree exudes,
In which you dip your arrows for the war,
He gains a pardon,—and the palsied wretch
Who scaped the UPAS, has escaped the tyrant."

* * * * *

"Act II. Sc. 4.

_Pengoose._ Finely dismal and romantic, they say, for many miles round
the UPAS; nothing but poisoned air, mountains, and melancholy. A charming
country for making _Mems_ and _Nota benes_!"

* * * * *

"Act III. Sc. 1.

_Pengoose._... That's the Divine, I suppose, who starts the poor
prisoners, for the last stage to the UPAS TREE; an Indian Ordinary of
Newgate.

Servant, your brown Reverence! There's no people in the parish, but, I
believe, you are the rector?

(_Writing_). "The reverend Mister Orzinga U.C.J.—The UPAS Clergyman of
Java."

_George Colman the Younger._

[1844.—"We landed in the Rajah's boat at the watering place, near the
UPAS tree...."—Here follows an interesting account by Mr Adams, in which
he describes how "the mate, a powerful person and of strong constitution,
felt so much stupified as to be compelled to withdraw from his position
on the tree."—_Capt. Sir E. Belcher, Narr. of the Voyage of H.M.S.
Samarang_, i. 180 _seqq._]

1868.—"The Church of Ireland offers to us, indeed, a great question, but
even that question is but one of a group of questions. There is the
Church of Ireland, there is the land of Ireland, there is the education
of Ireland ... they are all so many branches from one trunk, and that
trunk is the Tree of what is called Protestant ascendancy.... We
therefore aim at the destruction of that system of ascendancy, which,
though it has been crippled and curtailed by former measures, yet still
must be allowed to exist; it is still there like a tall tree of noxious
growth, lifting its head to heaven, and darkening and poisoning the land
as far as its shadow can extend; it is still there, gentlemen, and now at
length the day has come when, as we hope, the axe has been laid to the
root of that tree, and it nods and quivers from its top to its
base...."—Mr. GLADSTONE'S _Speech at Wigan_, Oct. 23. In this quotation
the orator indicates the UPAS TREE without naming it. The name was
supplied by some commentators referring to this indication at a later
date:

1873.—"It was perfectly certain that a man who possessed a great deal of
imagination might, if he stayed out sufficiently long at night, staring
at a small star, persuade himself next morning that he had seen a great
comet; and it was equally certain that such a man, if he stared long
enough at a bush, might persuade himself that he had seen a branch of the
UPAS TREE."—Speech of Lord EDMOND FITZMAURICE on the 2nd reading of the
University Education (Ireland) Bill, March 3.

" "It was to regain office, to satisfy the Irish irreconcilables,
to secure the Pope's brass band, and not to pursue 'the glorious
traditions of English Liberalism,' that Mr. Gladstone struck his two
blows at the UPAS TREE."—Mr. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, in _Fort. Rev._ Sept.
pp. 289-90.

1876.—"... the UPAS-TREE superstition."—_Contemp. Rev._ May.

1880.—"Lord Crichton, M.P. ... last night said ... there was one topic
which was holding all their minds at present ... what was this conspiracy
which, like the UPAS-TREE of fable, was spreading over the land, and
poisoning it?..."—In _St. James's Gazette_, Nov. 11, p. 7.

1885.—"The dread UPAS dropped its fruits.

"Beneath the shady canopy of this tall fig no native will, if he knows
it, dare to rest, nor will he pass between its stem and the wind, so
strong is his belief in its evil influence.

"In the centre of a tea estate, not far off from my encampment, stood,
because no one could be found daring enough to cut it down, an immense
specimen, which had long been a nuisance to the proprietor on account of
the lightning every now and then striking off, to the damage of the
shrubs below, large branches, which none of his servants could be induced
to remove. One day, having been pitchforked together and burned, they
were considered disposed of: but next morning the whole of his labourers
awoke, to their intense alarm, afflicted with a painful eruption.... It
was then remembered that the smoke of the burning branches had been blown
by the wind through the village...." (Two Chinamen were engaged to cut
down and remove the tree, and did not suffer; it was ascertained that
they had smeared their bodies with coco-nut oil.)—_H. O. Forbes, A
Naturalist's Wanderings_, 112-113.

[Mr. Bent (_Southern Arabia_, 72, 89) tells a similar story about the
collection of frankincense, and suggests that it was based on the custom
of employing slaves in this work, and on an interpretation of the name
Hadrimaut, said to mean 'valley of death.']

UPPER ROGER, s. This happy example of the Hobson-Jobson dialect occurs in a letter dated 1755, from Capt. Jackson at Syrian in Burma, which is given in Dalrymple's _Oriental Repertory_, i. 192. It is a corruption of the Skt. _yuva-rāja_, 'young King,' the Caesar or Heir-Apparent, a title borrowed from ancient India by most of the Indo-Chinese monarchies, and which we generally render in Siam as the 'Second King.'

URZ, URZEE, and vulgarly URJEE, s. P.—H. _'arẓ_ and _'arẓī_, from Ar. _'arẓ_, the latter a word having an extraordinary variety of uses even for Arabic. A petition or humble representation either oral or in writing; the technical term for a request from an inferior to a superior; 'a sifflication' as one of Sir Walter Scott's characters calls it. A more elaborate form is _'arẓ-dāsht_, 'memorializing.' This is used in a very barbarous form of Hobson-Jobson below.

1606.—"Every day I went to the Court, and in every eighteen or twentie
dayes I put up ARS or Petitions, and still he put mee off with good
words...."—_John Mildenhall_, in _Purchas_, i. (Bk. iii.) 115.

[1614.—"Until Mocrob Chan's ERZEDACH or letter came to that purpose it
would not be granted."—_Foster, Letters_, ii. 178. In p. 179 "By whom I
ERZED unto the King again."

[1687.—"The ARZDEST with the Estimauze (_Iltimās_, 'humble
representation') concerning your twelve articles...."—In _Yule, Hedges'
Diary_, Hak. Soc. II. lxx.

[1688.—"Capt. Haddock desiered the Agent would write his ARZDOST in
answer to the Nabob's Perwanna (PURWANNA)."—_Ibid._ II. lxxxiii.]

1690.—"We think you should URZDAAST the Nabob to writt purposely for y^e
releasm^t of Charles King, it may Induce him to put a great Value on
him."—Letter from Factory at Chuttanutte to _Mr. Charles Eyre_ at
Ballasore, d. November 5 (MS. in India Office).

1782.—"Monsr. de Chemant refuses to write to Hyder by _arzoasht_ (read
ARZDASHT), and wants to correspond with him in the same manner as Mons.
Duplex did with Chanda Sahib; but the Nabob refuses to receive any letter
that is not in the stile of an ARZEE or petition."—_India Gazette_, June
22.

c. 1785.—"... they (the troops) constantly applied to our colonel, who
for presenting an ARZEE to the King, and getting him to sign it for the
passing of an account of 50 lacks, is said to have received six lacks as
a reward...."—_Carraccioli, Life of Clive_, iii. 155.

1809.—"In the morning ... I was met by a minister of the Rajah of
Benares, bearing an ARJEE from his master to me...."—_Ld. Valentia_, i.
104.

1817.—"The Governor said the Nabob's Vakeel in the ARZEE already quoted,
directed me to forward to the presence that it was his wish, that your
Highness would write a letter to him."—_Mill's Hist._ iv. 436.

USHRUFEE. See ASHRAFEE.

USPUK, s. Hind. _aspak_. 'A handspike,' corr. of the English. This was the form in use in the Canal Department, N.W.P. Roebuck gives the Sea form as HANSPEEK.

[UZBEG, n.p. One of the modern tribes of the Turkish race. "Uzbeg is a political not an ethnological denomination, originating from Uzbeg Khān of the Golden Horde (1312-1340). It was used to distinguish the followers of Shaibāni Khān (16th century) from his antagonists, and became finally the name of the ruling Turks in the khanates as opposed to the Sarts, Tajiks, and such Turks as entered those regions at a later date...." (_Encycl. Brit._ 9th ed. xxiii. 661). Others give the derivation from _uz_, 'self,' _bek_, 'a ruler,' in the sense of independent. (_Schuyler, Turkistan_, i. 106, _Vambéry, Sketches of C. Asia_, 301).

[c. 1330.—"But other two empires of the Tartars ... that which was
formerly of Cathay, but now is OSBET, which is called
Gatzaria...."—_Friar Jordanus_, 54.

[1616.—"He ... intendeth the conquest of the VZBIQUES, a nation between
Samarchand and here."—_Sir T. Roe_, i. 113, Hak. Soc.

[c. 1660.—"There are probably no people more narrow-minded, sordid or
uncleanly, than the USBEC Tartars."—_Bernier_, ed. _Constable_, 120.

[1727.—"The USPECKS entred the Provinces _Muschet_ and _Yesd_...."—_A.
Hamilton_, ed. 1744, i. 108.

[1900.—"UZ-BEG cavalry ('them HOUSE-BUGS,' as the British soldiers at
Rawal Pindi called them)."—_Sir R. Warburton, Eighteen Years in the
Khyber_, 135.]

V

[VACCA, VAKEA-NEVIS, s. Ar. _wāḳia'h_, 'an event, news': _wāḳi'ah-navīs_, 'a news-writer.' These among the Moghuls were a sort of registrars or remembrancers. Later they became spies who were sent into the provinces to supply information to the central Government.

[c. 1590.—"_Regulations regarding the_ WAQI'AHNAWÍS. Keeping records is
an excellent thing for a government.... His Majesty has appointed
fourteen zealous, experienced, and impartial clerks...."—_Āīn_, i. 258.

[c. 1662.—"It is true that the Great Mogul sends a VAKEA-NEVIS to the
various provinces; that is persons whose business it is to communicate
every event that takes place."—_Bernier_, ed. _Constable_, 231.

[1673.—"... Peta Gi Pundit VOCANOVICE, or Publick
Intelligencer...."—_Fryer_, 80.

[1687.—"Nothing appearing in the VACCA or any other Letters untill of
late concerning these broils."—In _Yule, Hedges' Diary_, II. lxiii.]

VACCINATION. Vaccine was first imported into Bombay viâ Bussora in 1802. "Since then," says R. Drummond, "the British Governments in Asia have taken great pains to preserve and diffuse this mild instrument of salvation." [Also see _Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. ii. 374.]

VAISHNAVA, adj. Relating to Vishnu; applied to the sectaries who especially worship him. In Bengālī the term is converted into _Boishnab_.

1672.—"... also some hold _Wistnou_ for the supreme god, and therefore
are termed WISTNOUWAES."—_Baldaeus._

[1815.—"Many choose Vishnoo for their guardian deity. These persons are
called VOISHNUVUS."—_Ward, Hindoos_, 2nd ed. ii. 13.

VAKEEL, s. An attorney; an authorised representative. Arab. _wakīl_.

[c. 1630.—"A Scribe, VIKEEL."—_Persian Gloss._ in _Sir T. Herbert_, ed.
1677, p. 316.]

1682.—"If Mr. Charnock had taken the paines to present these 2 Perwannas
(PURWANNA) himself, 'tis probable, with a small present, he might have
prevailed with Bulchund to have our goods freed. However, at this rate
any pitifull VEKEEL is as good to act y^e Company's Service as
himself."—_Hedges, Diary_, Dec. 7; [Hak. Soc. i. 54].

[1683.—"... a copy whereof your VACKEL James Price brought you from
Dacca."—In _Yule_, _ibid._ II. xxiii.]

1691.—"_November_ the 1st, arriv'd a PATTAMAR or _Courrier_, from our
FAKEEL, or Sollicitor at Court...."—_Ovington_, 415.

1811.—"The Raja has sent two VAKEELS or ambassadors to meet me
here...."—_Ld. Minto in India_, 268.

c. 1847.—"If we go into Court I suppose I must employ a VEHICLE."—Letter
from an European subordinate to one of the present writers.

VARELLA, s. This is a term constantly applied by the old Portuguese writers to the pagodas of Indo-China and China. Of its origin we have no positive evidence. The most probable etymology is that it is the Malay _barāhlā_ or _brāhlā_, [in Wilkinson's Dict. _bĕrhala_], 'an idol.' An idol temple is _rūmah-barāhlā_, 'a house of idols,' but _barāhlā_ alone may have been used elliptically by the Malays or misunderstood by the Portuguese. We have an analogy in the double use of _pagoda_ for temple and idol.

1555.—"Their temples are very large edifices, richly wrought, which they
call VALERAS, and which cost a great deal...."—_Account of China_ in a
Jesuit's Letter appended to _Fr. Alvarez H. of Ethiopia_, translated by
Mr. Major in his _Introd. to Mendoza_, Hak. Soc. I. xlviii.

1569.—"Gran quantità se ne consuma ancora in quel Regno nelle lor
VARELLE, che sono gli suo' pagodi, de' quali ve n'è gran quantità di
grandi e di picciole, e sono alcune montagnuole fatte a mano, a giusa
d'vn pan di zuccaro, e alcune d'esse alte quanti il campanile di S. Marco
di Venetia ... si consuma in queste istesse VARELLE anco gran quantità di
oro di foglia...."—_Ces. Federici_, in _Ramusio_, iii. 395; [in _Hakl._
ii. 368.]

1583.—"... nauigammo fin la mattina, che ci trouammo alla Bara giusto di
Negrais, che cosi si chiama in lor linguaggio il porto, che va in Pegu,
oue discoprimmo a banda sinistra del riuo vn pagodo, ouer VARELLA tutta
dorata, la quale si scopre di lontano da' vascelli, che vengono d'alto
mare, et massime quando il Sol percote in quell'oro, che la fà
risplendere all'intorno...."—_Gasparo Balbi_, f. 92.[279]

1587.—"They consume in these VARELLAES great quantitie of Golde; for that
they be all gilded aloft."—_Fitch_, in _Hakl._ ii. 393; [and see
quotation from same under DAGON].

1614.—"So also they have many VARELAS, which are monasteries in which
dwell their _religiosos_, and some of these are very sumptuous, with
their roofs and pinnacles all gilded."—_Couto_, VI. vii. 9.

More than one prominent geographical feature on the coast-navigation to
China was known by this name. Thus in Linschoten's description of the
route from Malacca to Macao, he mentions at the entrance to the 'Straits
of Sincapura,' a rock having the appearance of an obelisk, called the
VARELLA _del China_; and again, on the eastern coast of Champa, or Cochin
China, we have frequent notice of a point (with a river also) called that
of the VARELLA. Thus in Pinto:

1540.—"The Friday following we found ourselves just against a River
called by the inhabitants of the Country _Tinacoreu_, and by us (the)
VARELLA."—_Pinto_ (in _Cogan_), p. 48.

This Varella of Champa is also mentioned by Linschoten:

1598.—"... from this thirde point to the VARELLA the coast turneth
North.... This VARELLA is a high hill reaching into the Sea, and above on
the toppe it hath a verie high stonie rock, like a tower or piller, which
may be seen far off, therefore it is by the _Portingalles_ called
VARELLA."—p. 342.

VEDAS. The Sacred Books of the Brahmans, _Veda_ being 'knowledge.' Of these books there are nominally four, viz. the _Rig_, _Yajur_, _Sāma_ and _Atharva_ Vedas.

The earliest direct intimation of knowledge of the existence of the Vedas appears to be in the book called _De Tribus Impostoribus_, said to have been printed in 1598, in which they are mentioned.[280] Possibly this knowledge came through the Arabs. Though thus we do not trace back any direct allusion to the Vedas in European books, beyond the year 1600 or thereabouts, there seems good reason to believe that the Jesuit missionaries had information on the subject at a much earlier date. St. Francis Xavier had frequent discussions with Brahmans, and one went so far as to communicate to him the _mantra_ "_Om śrīnārāyaṇanāmah_." In 1559 a learned Brahman at Goa was converted by Father Belchior Carneyro, and baptized by the name of Manuel. He afterwards (with the Viceroy's sanction!) went by night and robbed a Brahman on the mainland who had collected many MSS., and presented the spoil to the Fathers, with great satisfaction to himself and them (_Sousa, Orient. Conquist._ i. 151-2).

It is probable that the information concerning the Hindu religion and sacred books which was attained even in Europe by the end of the 16th century was greater than is commonly supposed, and greater than what we find in print would warrant us to assume. A quotation from San Roman below illustrates this in a general way. And in a constitution of Gregory XV. dated January 31, 1623, there is mention of rites called _Haiteres_ and _Tandié_, which doubtless represent the Vedic names _Aitareya_ and _Tāṇḍya_ (see _Norbert_, i. 39). Lucena's allusion below to the "four parts" of Hindu doctrine must have reference to the Vedas, and his information must have come from reports and letters, as he never was in India. In course of time, however, what had been known seems to have been forgotten, and even Halhed (1776) could write about 'Beids of the Shaster!' (see _Code_, p. xiii.). This shows that though he speaks also of the 'Four Beids' (p. xxxi.) he had no precise knowledge.

In several of the earlier quotations of the word it will be seen that the form used is _Vedam_ or _Veidam_. This is the Tamil form. And it became prevalent during the 18th century in France from Voltaire's having constituted himself the advocate of a Sanskrit Poem, called by him _l'Ezour Vedam_, and which had its origin in S. India. This was in reality an imitation of an Indian _Purāna_, composed by some missionary in the 17th century (probably by R. de' Nobili), to introduce Christian doctrines; but Voltaire supposed it to be really an ancient Indian book. Its real character was first explained by Sonnerat (see the Essay by F. W. Ellis, in _As. Res._ xi.). The first information regarding the real Vedas was given by Colebrooke in 1805 (_As. Res._ viii.). Orme and some authors of the 18th and early part of the 19th century write _Bede_, which represents the N. Indian vernacular form _Bed_. Both forms, _Bed_ and _Vedam_, are known to Fleury, as we see below.

On the subject of the Vedas, see _Weber's Hist. of Indian Lit._, _Max Müller's Ancient Sanskrit Lit._, _Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies_, vol. i. [and _Macdonell's Hist. of Sanskrit Lit._, pp. 29 _seqq._].

c. 1590.—"_The Brahmins._ These have properly six duties. 1. The study of
the BEDES."—_Ayeen_, by _Gladwin_, ii. 393; [ed. _Jarrett_, iii. 115].

" "Philologists are constantly engaged in translating Hindí, Greek,
Arabic, and Persian books ... Hájí Ibrahím of Sarhind translated into
Persian the _At'harban_ (_i.e._ _Atharva_ VEDA) which, according to the
Hindús is one of the four divine books."—_Ibid._ by _Blochmann_, i.
104-105.

1600.—"... Consta esta doutrina de quatro partes...."—_Lucena V. de P.
Franc. Xavier_, 95.

1602.—"These books are divided into bodies, limbs, and joints; and their
foundations are certain books which they call VEDÁOS, which are divided
into four parts."—_Couto_, V. vi. 3.

1603.—"Tienen muchos libros, de mucha costa y escriptura, todos llenos de
agueros y supersticiones, y de mil fabulas ridiculas que son sus
evangelios.... Todo esto es tan sin fundamento, que algunos libros han
llegado a Portugal, que se han traydo de la India, y han venido algunos
Iogues que se convertieron à la Fè."—_San Roman, Hist. de la India
Oriental_, 47.

1651.—"The VEDAM, or the Heathen's book of the Law, hath brought great
Esteem unto this Tribe (the Bramines)."—_Rogerius_, 3.

c. 1667.—"They say then that God, whom they call _Achar_, that is to say,
Immoveable or Immutable, hath sent them four Books which they call BETHS,
a word signifying _Science_, because they pretend that in these Books all
Sciences are comprehended. The first of these Books is called
_Athenba_-(_Atherba_-)BED, the second _Zagur_-BED, the third _Rek_-BED,
the fourth _Sama_-BED."—_Bernier_, E.T. 104; [ed. _Constable_, 325].

1672.—"Commanda primieramente il VEDA (che è tutto il fondamento della
loro fede) l'adoratione degli Idoli."—_P. Vincenzo_, 313.

" "Diese vier Theile ihres VEDAM oder Gesetzbuchs werden genant
_Roggo_ VEDAM, _Jadura_ VEDAM, _Sama_ VEDAM, und _Tarawana_
VEDAM...."—_Baldaeus_, 556.

1689.—"Il reste maintenant à examiner sur quelles preuves les Siamois
ajoutent foi à leur Bali, les Indiens à leur BETH ou VEDAM, les Musulmans
à leur Alcoran."—Fleury, in _Lett. Edif._ xxv. 65.

1726.—"Above all it would be a matter of general utility to the Coast
that some more chaplains should be maintained there for the sole purpose
of studying the Sanskrits tongue (_de Sanskritse taal_), the head and
mother tongue of most eastern languages, and once for all to make a
translation of the VEDAM, or Lawbook of the Heathen (which is followed
not only by the Heathen on this Coast, but also, in whole or in part, in
Ceylon, Malabar, Bengal, Surat, and other neighbouring Kingdoms), and
thereby to give such preachers further facilities for the more powerful
conviction of the Heathen here and elsewhere, on their own ground, and
for the disclosure of many mysteries and other matters, with which we are
now unacquainted.... This Lawbook of the Heathen, called the VEDAM, had
in the very old times 4 parts, though one of these is now lost.... These
parts were named _Roggo_ VEDAM, _Sadura_ or _Issoure_ VEDAM, _Sama_
VEDAM, and _Tarawana_ or _Adderawana_ VEDAM."—_Valentijn, Keurlijke
Beschryving van Choromandel_, in his _East Indies_, v. pp. 72-73.

1745.—"Je commençais à douter si nous n'avions point été trompés par ceux
qui nous avoient donné l'explication de ces cérémonies qu'ils nous
avoient assurés être très-conformes à leur VEDAM, c'est à dire au Livre
de leur loi."—_Norbert_, iii. 132.

c. 1760.—"VEDAM—s.m. _Hist. Superst._ C'est un livre pour qui les Brames
ou Nations idolâtres de l'Indostan ont la plus grande vénération ... en
effet, on assure que le VEDAM est écrit dans une langue beaucoup plus
ancienne que le _Sanskrit_, qui est la langue savante, connue des
bramines. Le mot VEDAM signifie science."—_Encylopédie_, xxx. 32. This
information was taken from a letter by Père Calmette, S.J. (see _Lett.
Edif._), who anticipated Max Müller's chronological system of Vedic
literature, in his statement that some parts of the _Veda_ are at least
500 years later than others.

1765.—"If we compare the great purity and chaste manners of the Shastah
(SHASTER), with the great absurdities and impurities of the VIEDAM, we
need not hesitate to pronounce the latter a corruption of the
former."—_J. Z. Holwell, Interesting Hist. Events_, &c., 2nd ed. i. 12.
This gentleman also talks of the BHADES and the VIEDAM in the same line
without a notion that the word was the same (see _ibid._ Pt. ii. 15,
1767).

c. 1770.—"The Bramin, bursting into tears, promised to pardon him on
condition that he should swear never to translate the BEDAS or sacred
volumes.... From the Ganges to the Indus the VEDAM is universally
received as the book that contains the principles of religion."—_Raynal_,
tr. 1777, i. 41-42.

c. 1774.—"Si crede poi como infallibile che dai quattro suddette BED, che
in Malabar chiamano VEDAM, Bramah medesimo ne retirasse sei _Sastrah_,
cioè scienze."—_Della Tomba_, 102.

1777.—"The word VĒD, or VĒDĂ, signifies Knowledge or Science. The sacred
writings of the Hindoos are so distinguished, of which there are four
books."—_C. Wilkins_, in his _Hĕĕtopădēs_, 298.

1778.—"The natives of Bengal derive their religion from a Code called the
SHASTER, which they assert to be the genuine scripture of Bramah, in
preference to the VEDAM."—_Orme_, ed. 1803, ii. 5.

1778.—

"Ein indischer Brahman, geboren auf der Flur,
Der nichts gelesen als den WEDA der Natur."
_Rückert, Weisheit der Bramanen_, i. 1.

1782.—"... pour les rendre (les _Pouranons_) plus authentiques, ils
ajoutèrent qu'ils étoient tirés du VÉDAM; ce que n'étoit pas facile à
vérifier, puisque depuis très longtems les Védams ne sont plus
connus."—_Sonnerat_, ii. 21.

1789.—

"Then Edmund begg'd his Rev'rend Master
T'instruct him in the _Holy_ SHASTER.
No sooner does the Scholar ask,
Than _Goonisham_ begins the task,
Without a book he glibly reads
Four of his own invented BEDES."
_Simpkin the Second_, 145.

1791.—"Toute verité ... est renfermée dans les quatre BETHS."—_St.
Pierre, Chaumière Indienne._

1794-97.—"... or Hindoo VEDAS taught."

_Pursuits of Literature_, 6th ed. 359.

VEDDAS, n.p. An aboriginal—or at least a forest—people of Ceylon. The word is said to mean 'hunters,' [Tam. _vedu_, 'hunting'].

1675.—"The WEDDAS (who call themselves BEDDAS) are all original
inhabitants from old time, whose descent no one is able to tell."—_Ryklof
van Goens_, in _Valentijn, Ceylon_, 208.

1681.—"In this Land are many of these wild men they call VADDAHS,
dwelling near no other Inhabitants. They speak the _Chingalayes_
Language. They kill Deer, and dry the Flesh over the Fire ... their Food
being only Flesh. They are very expert with their Bows.... They have no
Towns nor Houses, only live by the waters under a Tree."—_Knox_, 61-62.

1770.—"The BEDAS who were settled in the northern part of the island
(Ceylon) ... go almost naked, and, upon the whole, their manners and
government are the same with that of the Highlanders of Scotland."
(!)—_Raynal_ (tr. 1777), i. 90.