The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1880-06-24
DEADLY ARROWS.
The Bra.lIian BIow-Pipes and Poison.

The Arecunas Indians are the makers
of the deadly blow-pipe, of which so
much has been told by Waterton and
others. The blow-pipe is fashioned from
the stem of a straight tree without
branches, but bearing leaves about the
size of rhubarb leaves This tree, the
name of which I did not learn, often
grows to the height of thirty feet Like
the bamboo, it is hollow, except at the
joints. Sometimes the natives get rid
of these impediments by piercing holes
through them with long spikes of hard
stem so cleverly that the fastening is
scarcely perceptible. The surface is then
polished and bone sights placed about a
foot from each end. They make more Of
these blow-pipes than they require for
their own use, and the residue they sell
to the Macusis, from whom they obtain
in exchange the wouralh poison.
The Macusis of the Canuca Noun
tains say they are the sole patentees Of
this subtle and renowned poison; and
even of the Macusis only few know
how to prepare it. 1t is accounted a
great secret, and is impaired from father
to son or next male heir when the former
is believed to be at the point of death.
Not only are there few persons who are
possessed of the secret, but the process
of manufacture is carried on on COM
paratively rare occasions, and is sur
rounded with a degree of solemnity
which is indicative of the high import
ance with which they regard the opera
ton. For ten days previous to the first
boiling down, all the men who are to
take part in it are supposed to fast, and
all the women of the tribe are carefully
kept out of the way. Whether this lat
ter precaution is due to a superstitious
belief that the female presence is In some
occult way inimical to the manufacture,
or whether it arises from the circum-
stance that eastern ideas regarding the
inqusitiveness of womankind prevail
among the untutored savages of the
West, is point on which am without
positive information. It is fact, how
ever, that women arerigorously excluded
from the mystic rite. The long arrows the
natives use with the bow are sometimes
dipped in the poison, and small tube
of bamboo placed over the tip to prevent
any one being accidentally pricked by it.
The blow-pipe arrows, or shafts, are thin
slips of hard wood, made from the stem
of the leaf of the cucurite palm. They
are generally from twelve to eighteen
inches in length, sharp at one end, and
wrapped around at the other with COM
mon cotton, or with the brown, silk-ike
cotton of the silk-cotton tree. The sharp
points are dipped in the wouralli, which
is Of the color and consistency of melted
glue. These they carry in wicker case,
shaped like dice-box, but larger, very
closely woven, and with leather top and
bottom, the top opening on leather
hinge.
The length of the blow-pipe itself
varies from twelve to fifteen feet. I gen.
orally noticed that when the tribes are
on their travels or hunting expeditions
the longest of these instruments are car
ried by. the smallest Indians. Thus
equipped they range through the forest,
shooting monkeys, birds, or such other
animals as come in their way. The only
antidote to the poison they are in the
habit of using is kind of earth-worm,
well known to them and common enough
in these parts. Should any of them be
SO unfortunate as to get scratched, ahasty
search is made for these earth-worms,
which are pounded together, portion
being used to anoint the wound and the
rest swallowed by the patient. The same
remedy Is used to bring back monkeys,
maccaws, and other animals from the
jaws Of death. I believe the cure is gen.
orally successful if applied before the
poison has had time to make much head
way, and I can speak from direct personal
observation in one instance. We had a
cararawah (macaw) blue and yellow,
which had been captured by being
slightly wounded with wouralli arrow,
and the earth-worm application was so
eficacious that the bird not only recov-
cred, but few weeks after we had it, it
took fight and left us forever.