The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-11-09
LAND OF THE CROSSBOW.
Ths Deadly Poisoned Arrows Of the
lissoo Sharpshooters.

AsSsoS 0tN FS'oSeS'
On the wild frontier between China
and British Burma is a i,arbarous tribe
which has no civilized supervision.
George Forrest, an English traveller,
thus describes the chief weapon Of
these people: "If | had TO suggest a
should call 1t The Land of the Cross
bow, which is the characteristic weap-
On of the country and the Lissoo tribe.
Every Lissoo with any preicnsious to
chic possesses ut least TWO Ct these
weapons-one for everyday use IL hunt
ing the other for var The little chill
dren play with miniature crSS@Jows
The men never leave their h..t; icT 49,
purpose whatever without t.lcii Gross
bows When they go to sL'vo l-.e -
kung' is hung over their he..Gs. IN.
when they die it is hung ever tleit
graves. The largest crossb0ws have 4
span of fully five feet ard require :;
pull of fully thirty-fvc pounds to s.. ing
them. The bow is made of species Of
wild mulberry of great toughness and
hexiblity. The stock, some four feet
long in the war bows, is usually Ct
wild plum wood. The string is CT
plated hemp and the trigger Of bone.
The arrow, of sixteen TO eighteen
inches, is of split bamboo about four
times the thickness of an ordinary
knitting needle hardened and pointed.
The actual point IS bare fer IL quarter
to one-thrd Of an inch. then for fully
an inch the arrow is stripped to half its
thickness. and on this portion poison il
placed.
The poison is invariably a decoction
expressed from the tuoers of specie;
of aconitum which grows on thee
ranges at an altitude of 5000 to 1000
feet The poison is mixed with resin
or some vegetable gum to the consist
cncy Of putty and is then smeared On
the Eotclicd poiut. The feather is sup
piled by a strip of bamboo leaf folded
into triangular form and tied IN Il
notch at the end OF the arrow. with the
point of the angle outward The re
ducton in thickness of the arrow
where the poison is placed causes he
point to break off in the body Of any
ore whom il strikes. and. as each car.
ries enough poison 10 kill cart horse.
Il woU,,d is Invariably fatal. Free and
immediate i"eisi0u i; the usual remed-
when wounded on q limb or flcshT part
Of the body but at Chengka the uncle
OF the T.aowo chief showed us q prep
aration which resemblcd opium dress
and which he said was an effective
antigiote
With few exceptions the Lissoo
seemed to US to he arrant towards.
but the crossbow and poisoned arrow
are certainly most diabolical weapons
An arrow from a war bow will pierce
a deal board an inch thick at seventy
or eighty yards. Some of the Tsekou
natives We're so expert that they could
hit a mark four inches in diameter re-
peatcdly Mt sixty to eighty yards. As
no one goes anywhere without his
crossbow and his bearskin CULVER full
Of poisoned arrows and as every vii
lage is at feud with every other vii
lage mutual suspicion is inevitable
In open fight the I.ssoo are usually
careful to keep ut a respectful distance
from each other and behind oxhide
shields which protect the whole Of the
body. But if battle is rare, murder
and sudden death by ambush In the
jungle are common"