The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-11-26
NO. 49,.
WHITES IMPERvIOus TO POISON.
Cauca slams DO Not Suffer from tho Darts
of Savage Tribes.

Cauca slams DO Not Suffer from the Darts
OF Savage Tribes.
1t is rather curious that we hear so
little of poisoned weapons in these days.
Now and again the newspapers report
what they call "a tragedy" from the
South seas or from Africa, such as the
death of poor Commander Goodenough,
or the massacre of that French party
in Rorneo, announced the other day.
But such events are very rare, and they
nearly always happen in certain narrow
areas. Poisoned arrows were an abId-
! ing terror once in every land. civilized
| or savage. But in Europe they seem to
| be quite extinct and somehow people
no longer take much account of them in
regions where they are still common.
One might suspect that the alarm of
our forefathers was due mostly to SUI
perstition and ignorance. They had
poison, as one may say, ION the BRAIN
and their methods of analysis We're
grotesque. But in every museum are
weapons carefully fashioned to insure
that dose of venom shall enter the
wound they inGict. Doubtless the men
at that time were familiar with noXious
herbs and substances which are known
at present time only to students of
science. But it still remains somewhat
of a puzzle that poisoned arrows are so
rarely mentioned in savage countries.
There are districts innumerable up and
down where Europeans live, no well
come residents, among a population
al 4 i ,~.l
used to steep their weapons therein.
One might certainly have expected that
the Ghazis, of Afghanistan, would poi
son their knives. Often it has been al
legged that one of them did so, bpt is
there any evidence? In our generation,
at least, wounded men duly recover un-
less their hurts be mortal.
Has any Englishman ever lost his life
in Borneo from the fatal darts of the
blowpipe? Capt. Mundy tells how sew
eral of his men were struck at the cap
1ure OF Bruni, but their messmates in
stantly sucked the wound, and nothing
, followed. The present rajah of Sara
wax once lost 80 men in IA single day;
they had gone out as skirmishers. The
bodies had no mark beyond the simple
, puncture, where drop of blood rested
on the wound. "One man was struck,
, near him; he instantly had the arrow
, extracted, the wound sucked, glass
, of brandy administered and the pa
tient sent off to the boats about five
miles distant. Two companions sup
ported him, with strict orders not to let
= him sleep till he reached the landing
: place; they made him keep awake, and
| he recovered" Old officers of the Sara
!, wax government have many such
: stories to tell. But the fact remains,
!. curious to us, that natives make very
little use comparatively of their ter
rible power. Not half the tribes, in
deed, employ the blowpipe, whether
= for war or hunting, and none poison
swords. spears or any instrument what
y ever. The poisoned weapons of the
e Malays are stock property of fiction.
b Il is not said that they never existed in
T. fact, for the braves are found every
l. where, but assuredly they are uncom-
q mon even among the criminal class.
" Yet the Malays are perfectly familiar
!. with the upas,, and they entertain even
= an exaggerated belief in its viruleUce.
70 They know venom more powerful
V still, the sap of the Chetek, common
n vine, which can be obtained in five min
20 utes, for it is used "neat'-the confnc
IS tion of upas is not little complicated
,r Dr. Horsfield, in Java, persuaded an ex
X. pert to make some in his presence
,c with an equal quantity of upas juice
" the native mingled about half drachn
n each of sap from Arum, kempferii
s. galange, anomum, kind of Zerum
f. bed, common onion, a drachm and I
ks half of black pepper" With this com
a., position Dr. Horsrfield killed a dog il
% one hour, a monkey in seven minutes,
es cat in IS, and large buffalo in tw'
hours ten minutes. By all account
or the Bornean upas is much stronger
ID In SO minutes, or even 20, man is dead
ts they say.-PalI Mall Gazette.
Bicycle Clubs for Women.