Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-01-30
\ BL0lY-..GUNS.
G CECUIhAR WEAPON USED By
TWO ss-tgACsf; HACES.
Eorneo WARRIORS and Indians OF tho
Amazon Hunt and Fight With
Biow-Gans---HowT They Arc
Made-Arrow Poison.

+. 80 = - ~ = 1850.
Among the Dyak head hunters of Bor-
neo, on one side of the world, and
among the Indians of the Upper Amazon,
on the other side, the blow-gun is the
constant companion of every man and
boy who has sound PAIR of lungs.
"2arabatanan it is called in its Western
homo, and ''sumpitan" in the jungies of
Borueo. Very wonderful it is that two
savage races, who mover heard OF one an-
others existence, who are separated by
near $4,000 miles of ocean and continent
they are almost tho antipodes of one
another-should have evolved out of
their wild surroundings weapons sonearly
similar,and poisons for their arrow points
that, SO far as chemistry can discover,
are nearly identical in competition aud
practically alike in their deadly effect
The blow-gun of South America is
sometimes as much as twelve feet long
and rarely less than six feet, tho latter
length being for the use of boys. The
larger sizes are necessarily heavy in or.
der to prevent DETECTION and consequent
inaccuracy OF aim. and it takes strong
man to use one effectually without a
rest. Indeed, the most efficient posi-
tion of hunter who is after birds, and
the like, is at the foot ofthe tree where
his game is perched. Standing there he
may silently bag an entire flock one by
one, without causing an alarm. Among
the South American tribes there are
famous Zarabatana makers, just as we
have our noted gunsmiths. Tho recog-
nized method of construction is to select
two straight.grained pieces of light wood,
usually the chorita palm, and after they
are we'll seasoned, scrape them down till
two surfaces are absolutely true and fat,
and fit without flaw when laid together.
To do this with o carpenters bench and
o jack-plane takes n good mechanic.
What then must be the patience and
skill of an Indian who can do it equally
well with the rudest eppliances2 Tho
next operation is still more delicate. A
half-round groove must be made in each
of the fiat faces from end to end. For
this the Indian artisan uses natures tools
in the shape of the incisor teeth of the
paca or the cutin, two rat-likc animals
that abound in the woods. OF course
each groove must be exactly half round
or the bore of tho completed zarabatana
will not be true. A final finish and pei
ish is given by sprinkling fine sand in
: the tube aud drawing leathern thong
saw tasn,,on back and forth until per.
feet bore is proiacsd. Some tribes use
peculiar species of bampoo very stroight
and light, but imperfect, because il has
what gnnsmiths call "chokc bore. y
that is, one that tapers.
This done, the two halves nrc trimmed
down, tapering externally toward the
muzzlc, fitted with conical wooden
mouth-picce, wound from end to end
with stripes of split rattan, or the climb
ing palm, and rubbed with the black wax
of the NIelipona bee. A good workman
can make blow-gun in two days, which
is doing wonderfully, considering tho
tools at his disposal, and he can sell the
finished product of his skill for about 50.
The arrows are about ten or twelve
inches long, made from the stems of palm
leaves dried, sharpened and notched at
one end, SO as to break off in the wound.
at the other end is conicai ball or
wad ffibers from the silk cotton tree.
Eriodendron Samauma) of a size to
closely fit the base of the blow-gun, that
is about half an inch in diameter, so thot
it leaves the muzzlc with gentle pop,
Ikea cork from bottle.
With such an outfit an expert native
will bring down gamo at an extreme
range of about $50 feet, but it is the
poison that does it, not the force of tho
missile.
The Borncan blow-gun is made from
solid stick of ironwood about an inch
and half in diameter. The Dyaks are
skillfrl metal workers, and make their
own tools, so they are able to bore the
required hole with long sharpencd rod
OF iron. The sumpitan is shorter than
its American cousin, rarely more than
seven feet long, but it is more formid-
able weapon for large game, being pro-
vidcd with an effective spear head. The
arrows are made of bamboo splints
sharpened, aud with spiral score at the
end to hold the poison. Instead of q
silkcn wad, conical bit of pitch isstuclS
upon the feather end of the shaft.
Arrows and wads are carried separately,
and the wads are affixed only when
wanted. The extreme range of the
sumpitan is given at $50 feet, rather less
than that of the South American weapon.
The Dyak artisan, by the way, in finish
ing his work, uses for sand paper the
dried leaves of the Daun Arnplas, "a tree
of the Malay Peninsula, which has a
gritty under surface and gives. good
polish.
So much for the, weapons. Now for
the wonderful poison, urari, of America;
dyaksch, of Borneo.
Among the Xeberos and the Ticunas
OF the Upper Amazon, as among the
Dyaks OF the Bornean jungles, che Sc
cret of its manufacture is preserved. In
both lands nicotine and strychnine are
among the ingredients, and that is about
all that chemistry has thus far been able
to learn. Its certain antidote is salt, one
OF sugar being also one, but of less po-
tency. Its instant effect, hypodermically
-. 20 -