The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-03-10
HUNTING WITH BLOW-GUNS.
Savages of Guiana Use These Queer Weap
Ons With Poisoned Arrows

Savages of Guiana Use These Queer Weap-
Ons With Poisoned Arrows.
The blow pipes used by the savages of
Guiana for shooting poisoned arrows
are very wonderful weapons indeed.
The climate of the equatorial region,
being both very hot and very moist,
produces a vegetation of astonishing
luxuriance. The forests are commonly
ankle deep in water for mile after mile,
and, consequently, the animals found
there mostly inhabit the trees Mon
keys are exceedingly numerous For
killing these tree-dwelling creatures the
blow-gun is the best possible instru-
ment. 1t is made from a peculiar kind
of reed, and although eleven or twelve
feet in length, its weight is only a
pound and half. 1t is provided, like a
rife, with fore sight and back sight,
the latter being made of the teeth of a
small beast called the acouchi
The natives are most careful respect
ing the straightness of their blow guns,
and never allow them to lean against
anything lest they should be warped.
The arrows employed are made from
the leaf ribs of kind of palm, made to
fit the bore of the gun by wrapping of
wild cotton fastened with fiber of silk
grass Great art is required to put on
the cotton properly. The arrow is
about ten inches long, no thicker than
a crow quill, and at one end is brought
to point as sharp as needle by scrap
ing it between the keen-edged, saw-ike
~ ha cl, -hal ~ a
pirai jaw is always suspended to the
culver.
The vegetable poison used for en-
venoming the arrows is called ''curari"
1t is extremely powerful and will kill
man within few minutes when intro
duced into the circulation by an arrow
point, though it is harmless when swal-
lowed 1t is very difficult to procure
the strongest 'curari'' from the natives,
who are most unwilling to part with it.
The arrow heads are kept carefully
separate from the shafts as a precau-
ton against accidents, the savages
themselves being very much afraid of
the poisons which they employ. The
secret of preparing the poison is handed
down by the medicine men from gener-
alton to generation. and the common
people are not permitted to know it
First must be sought the curari vine,
which Is closely allied to the tree which
furnishes strychnine, and to the upas
tree, from which the Dyaks of Borneo
get the poison for their arrows When
the poison maker has found the curari
he looks for two dubious plants, the
stems of which yield glutinous juice.
Another vegetable ingredient is the
bitter root, commonly used by the saw
ages in poisoning water for the purpose
of catching fish. To the mixture COM
posed of these elements the medicine
man adds two kinds of venomous ants
and the poison fangs of deadly species
of snakes. The whole is allowed to
simmer over a fire, the snakes fangs
and ants being pounded and thrown
into the pot The boiling is continued
until the poison is reduced to a thick
brown strip. Finally a few arrows are
dipped experimentally in the poison,
and its effect is tried upon some animal
or bird If satisfactory, the poison is
poured into a spherical earthenware
pot, in which it is kept carefully COW
cred over with leaves, to exclude air
and moisture. Star.