either heard or read of this poisonous tree, supposed to carry
death to every living thing for a wide distance around it, not even
sparing shrubs or plants--things of its own kind--but inflicting blight
and destruction wherever its envenomed breath may be wafted on the
breeze?

Captain Redwood was a man of too much intelligence, and too
well-informed, to have belief in this fabulous tale of the olden time.
Still he knew there was enough truth in it to account for all that had
occurred--for the vertigo and vomiting, the horrible nausea and utter
prostration of strength that had come upon them unconsciously. They had
made their camp under one of these baneful trees--the true upas
(_antiaris toxicaria_); they had kindled a fire beneath it, building it
close to the trunk--in fact, against it; the smoke had ascended among
its leaves; the heat had caused a sudden exudation of the sap; and the
envenomed vapour floating about upon the air had freely found its way
both into their mouths and nostrils. For hours had this empoisoned
atmosphere been their only breath, nearly depriving them of that upon
which their lives depended.

If still suffering severely from the effects of having inhaled the
noxious vapour, they were now no longer wretched. Their spirits were
even restored to a degree of cheerfulness, as is always the case with
those who have just escaped from some calamity or danger. They now knew
that in due time they would recover their health and strength. The
glorious tropical sun that had arisen was shining benignantly in their
faces, and brightening everything around, while the breeze, blowing
fresh upon them from a serene sapphire-coloured sea, cooled their
fevered blood. They felt already reviving. The sensations they
experienced were those of one who, late suffering from sea-sickness,
pent up in the state-room of a storm-tossed ship, with all its vile
odours around him, has been suddenly transferred to _terra firma_, and
laid upon some solid bank, grassy or moss-grown, with tall trees waving
above, and the perfume of flowers floating upon the balmy air.

For a long while they sat upon the sands in this pleasant dreamy state,
gazing upon the white surf that curled over the coral reefs, gazing upon
the blue water beyond, following the flight of large white-winged birds
that now and then went plunging down into the sea, to rise up with a
fish glistening in their beaks, half unconscious of the scene under
their