Show tree an inquisitor BH one of the most deadly trees in t world Is to be found in madagascar where it Is known as the tangen tree its scientific name la Is vene the hattei v woid oi d signifying poisonous by the natives it is regarded with a sort of honor and for excellent rea sons bona I 1 or centuries it was the cus torn tom to uso use the fruit of tile the tangen for tho the purpose of ascertaining whether criminals charged with grave offenses ware m are guilty or not in each case the prisoner was wag brought into cobit and the judge thereupon solemnly handed him a fruit from a tangen tree and told him that if he be ate it and it did him tic no haim lie he would be considered inno cent but that it if it killed him he would be considered guilty As there la is a great deal of poison in the fruit it can readily be seen that very few if indeed any mete able to pass through this ordeal unscathed it Is said that some criminals who had great political influence or con on sid erable wealth to escape through the conal nice of the ju judges adges but on the other lian ban I 1 the criminal records decord tell ot of man isea in which prison prisoners eis died a hoi tible death verb ver oon loon after the had caten the noxious fault more civilla civil ld methods of jurls dl flon now prevail in madagascar lada gascar but though this barbarous barb barbi irous custom cu Is obsolete the abib di tree Is regarded with almost na as much aversion ajer sion as it evor ever N ft as A proof pi 00 of this may be found in the fact tivit thit a french ill at recently tried to some branches blanches and fruit or of the trees but though he asked several natives to ald aid him la in the search lie he has unable to obtain the blight pst assistance from huy any ot of them |