The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-08-11
The Sumpitan, or Blow-Tubc.


The proJcctilcs used are darts, vary
ing from five to eight or nine inches in
length. The Dyak war dart is tLc
shortest, and is usually furnished with
small metal arrowhead. In this case the
shaft IS OF light wood. The longer
darts, such as those used in S,matro
are made from harder and hcovirr
wood, usually the long spikes taken from
the palms These are left thicker toward
the point than at the other end, so rs to
co"ntcrbalance the weight of the conicul
piece OF pith there affixed This piece
Oh pltll, the brOadest part of which is but
very little less than the bore of the blow
tube, IS absolutely necessary for the
forclblc propulsion of the dart Asit
does not tit the tube precisely, there is
necessarily some escape of force. For
tlls reason when very hard shots arc
desired small pellet of cotton or other
suitable tibrous material is put behind
the dart The great secret in makinu
the darts is to insure that they l,alnncr
exactly, !. e., onc-half must he exactly
the same weight rs the other Under
any other conditions tube shooting is
impossible. In Padrang, Sl1mntra, +
WAS much astonished to meet II man
using for very small birds darts con-
structcd out of coconnut lea, He
took spike of the leaf, and cat of, u
piece about five inches long. The stalk
OF this he dcnudrd of I'LL leaf exccpt one
piece an inch and a half long on one side,
the result being an article having tho
| shape of n quill pen. The inch and Il
| half fragment of leaf that remained WAS
| rurlrd around to allow of it's ndmittancc
INTO the bow~tubr. When we remember
that 1T was green leaf, we can form an
ldcn OF the force with which the darts
are propelled to kill. For my particular
amusement the sportsman, who was
laden with supply Of ut least 300 darts,
shot one OF these palm leaf projectilea
over some water, and I calculated that
the range was we'll over 50 yards. The
INITIAL velocity was SO great that the dart
could not he seen for the first 25 yards
The grentcst adopts with the srmpitan,
especially Mt the present day, when its
use is so surely dying out, are undoubt-
edly the Dyaks. From what I have
heard, and from what I know from my
own observation, n Dyak would shoot Il
dart hundred and fifty yards to u
certainty; and should not carc to bet
very much against 200 yards being
accomplished by picked men. This
statement may snvor of the "trnvcer"
order, but l fancy most Borncnn travel
crs will ngroe with me. The small dart
his, Of course, not sufficient of itself to
take human life, but the Dynks poison
their projcctiles in warfare, when n slight
wound anywhere is all that is necessary,
MIR. Paul, who was some years in Bornco
with Sir James Brooke, told me that
he once SAW Dynk who put two darts
into sllmpitnn, ono behind the other
and by some incXplicnhle means shot ont
the front one first, and followed with the
other after IN interval. This man wns
doubtless II sort of Dr. Carver among
the Dyaks. Precision with the blow
tube is, rs with every other weapon, a
mere matter of practice. In shooting
small birds out Of trees for collecting
mcnded the use of the blow-tubc, the
range would never be very great. A bird
20 feet high in a tree is pretty high,
considering that it is in the lower, full
lcavcd trees that the birds congrcgntc,
i'll preference to the higher ones. At
| thiS Jiyf,n,, a Gff1,
it II certainty that the bird will be hit
If not killed outright, the long dart will
of itself be sufficiently cumbersome to
prevent the bird flying very fur. As IL
rule, the quarry is transiixed, when of
course it is n case. I give 20 feet he
cause L always like to be ON the safe side
in these matters, but /, myself, would
certainly undertake to hit four times out
of six at twice the height. / have fire.
qucntly proved this by bringing down
tiny birds out of the bctcl-nut palm
Your readers will notice that I speak of
"hcight," and not "listancc. Shooting
up into IL tree and shooting ut M object
upon the ground are two different
matters when the projectile is long
dart, likely to he affected by the least
wind. But still, ut 30 feet small birds
should not escape very often from hori-
Zontal shots. For very tiny birds clay
balls may be used; but from the fact
that they never can fit the barrel proper
~, they are not 50 sure as the dart.
| Relic Of the vikings, M