Note 130 — Chapter VI · Magic Rites as affecting the Life of Man

Of the sea-snake (ular gerang) I was told that it was about two cubits in length, and that it was the most poisonous snake in existence; “In fact,” my informant declared, “if your little finger is bitten by it you must cut off the finger; if your oar-blade is bitten by it you must throw away the oar.”130 And again of the Ipoh, or “upas” (which is one of the chief ingredients in the blow-gun poison used by the wild tribes), I was told that if a man who was “struck” by it was supported by another his supporter would die, and that so far from its virulence becoming then exhausted, it would even kill a person who was seven times removed, in point of contact, from the person originally affected.131