The herald., 1894-12-19
POISON FOR ARROWS.
HOW THE DEADLY STUFF is MADE
BY THE INDIANS.

! Tarsntula Killers Cooked Toeetlscr-The
Thrilling Method ofsTesting7-A Secret
Carefully Guarded.
had been cattle tranop man on tne
! plains Of southeastern, Ari1 ona for some
/ two years before l could find out how
the Apaches poison lthe ir arrow tips.,
| The Indians inherit; from their ances-
| tors an interse secretly veness as to the
| manner Of their pnps ration of venom
/ for hunting or ward &le purposes. A trib-
/ al chief years ago would as soon think
! of cutting off his owp head as to let an
| other chief knoW'son @ method peculiar
! to the tribe for pre- )ning powerful
/ poison Now that dhn savages use fire.
/ arms almost to the exclusion of their
| primitive weapons { he older warriors
| Will not, If they can, allow information
! concerning their trll al manufacture Of
/ venom to become known among the
palefaces | had in my employ bright
! young Indian buck, who gave me full
information conce1 ming the way the
! plains Indians ha re for many genera
tions made the poi sonous fluids for their
arrows. One day lRe went SO faryas to
get permission forsule to go over/to the
mountains to seesA tribe of Ylavapais
get their weapons i'll proper poisonous
condition.
Rattlesnakes afford most 81 the Apa-
cho and Pluto In dians' verhmous COM
pounds To seetthe savages prepare the
poisons and try their efficacy on them
selves is enough to dist less even q from
tiersman's dres ms. The bloated rattle-
/ snake Of the OF all9li deserts of Ari-
zona or the p lnhantno of Texas makes
the most pow crful poison. There is no
more hldeou anCL deadly serpent in
America tha n the jbl0ted RATHER 1t is
a terror evN to al apache Indian, and
if there is one tlfng that is worse than
a rattlesnajle III tHe opinion of plains
men and sf3ttloIs i'm eastern Texas and
southern Arizona. it is an Apache Indi.
an. The' PiUtes, although more COW.
ardiy gang Chan the Apaches, hold this
rattlesnal-e in Jess horror but they give
it plenty ofsro ON. The Piutes draw Oh
tho snake Hcr their poison after it is
dead. They Apaohes, in spite Of their
fear OF thCas Make mako it contribute its
venom to fH lem while it is alive.
The IL 1T lesnalze of the Arizona desert
grows Ia length of feet and attain
q girtb Sof 6 inches at the thickest part.
They nave tremendous sets Of rattles.
This snake has fangs an inch long and
is Fl aIuently fitted with two sets. The
poii on sacs at the base of these fangs
are fas big as q hazelnut. The snake is q
br Elht yellow in color.
Hhe desert rattlesnake is a dreadful
enough customer any day in the year,
bTlt during August takes on the fullness
Cf its frightfulness, both in appearance
and conduct. About the middle of Au.
I gust, when the weather is insufferably
I hot, this snake becomes bloated from
! some cause until it is third larger than
its normal size. Its appearance is as il
the snake had been blown up like
bladder or charged with gas like bal.
loon. This rattler is always 1sluggish
and slow in its movements, and like all
Of its kind usually makes an effort tc
get out Of tho way of its intruders, but
i'll August it simply lies still in bloated
| responsiveness and will not move for any.
thing, being ready at all times to strike
! at everything that comes near it. As
near as you can get at it, this rattle.
snake at that time of the year is simply
/ a swollen reservoir of venom.
A Pluto Indian who wishes to lay in
! stock Of poison for his arrows kills, al
| this time Of year, enough of these rat.
/ tlesnakes for his purpose. He cuts of
! their hoeds and takes them to his lodge.
He places in one of the rude eartheu
vessels that are among the Pluto house.
hold effects ten or a dozen Of these
/ snake heads. 70 them he adds perhaps
a pint of tarantula killer, as the big
hairy Texan or Mexican spider is call
ed, or rather he puts the abdomen o,
the spider in with the snake heads.
This spider has sting that injects
poison subtle enough almost to kill a ia
rantula instantly. which is itself abou,
as poisonous q member of the animal
kingdom as one would care to meet.
The poison sac of tho tarantula killer is
i'll the lower abdomen of the insect, and
it is this the Piute brave mixes with the
rattlesnake heads. He then pours in
q pint of water seals the lid of the yes.
sci ON with moist clay and places the
vessel III pit where he has made bed
Of hot Goals. He buries the vessel in
these Goals, and besides that builds
blazing fire on top of it. This fire ia
kept burning fieroely for several hours,
when it is swept away, and the Indian
digs his vessel out of the Goals. With
long pole he knocks the lid off and does
not venture near the pot until the steam
that arises from it as soon as the lid il
taken off entirely ceases to appear.
The Piutes say that to inhale the
smallest quantity Of that steam would
be instant death. Whether that is true
or not am not able to say, as never
saw it put to the test. After the fiery
ordeal to which the snake heads are put
is over, a brownish residuum remains in
the bottom of the kettle. That is cor-
tainly the double quintessence of poison,
if its action on human blood, or, at
least Indian blood, is any indication.
The Piute always tests his poison before
trusting his arrows to it. He cuts a
cash in the fleshy part of his leg and
draws the blood, which he lets trickle
down his leg. When the red stream has
run down six or seven inches, he dips
stick in tho poison and touches it to the
lower end of the bloody streak. If the
poison is all right, it actually burns
the blood almost like hot iron touched