Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-12-01
Mistellanruu5 Reading.
LAND OF cRosSBoW.
The Deadly Poison Arrows of the lissoo
Sharpshooters.

The Deadly Poison Arrows of the lissoo
Sharpshooters.
On the wild frontier between China
and British Burma is barbarous tribe
which has no civilized supervision.
George Forest, an English traveller,
thus describes the chief weapon Of these
people: IF l had to suggest a title
for a book on the upper Salwin I should
call it The Land of the CrOssbow.
which is the characteristic weapon of
the country and the Lissoo tribe. Ev-
ery Lissoo with any pretentions to chic
possesses at least two Of these wea-
pons-one for everyday use in hunting,
the other for war The little children
play with miniature croSsboWs. The
men never leave their huts for any
purpose without their crossoows.
When they go to sleep the "nukung
is hung over their heads, and when
they die it is hung over their graves.
The largest crosSbows have a span OF
fully 5 feet and require span of fully
35 pounds to string them. The bow is
made of a species of wild mulberry Of
great roughness and f1eXibility. The
stock, some feet long in the war
bows, is usually of wild plum wood
The string is of plated hemp and the
trigger of bone. The arrow of 16 to
Is inches, is of split bamboo about four
times the thickness of an ordinary knit
ting needle. hardened and pointed. The
actual point is bare for quarter TO
one third of an inch, then for fully an
inch the arrow is stripped to half its
thickness and on this portion poison Is
placed.
The poison is invariably a decoction
pressed from the tuberS of species
of acoultum which grows on these
ranges at an altitude of 5000 to 10000
feet. The poison is mixed with resin
or some vegetable gum to the consis-
tency of putty and is then smeared on
the notched point The feather is sup
piled by a strip of bamboo leaf folded
into a triangular form and tied in a
notch at the end of the arrow, with the
point of the angle outward. The re-
duction in thickness of the arrow where
the poison is placed causes the point to
break off in the body of any one whom
it strikes and, as each carries enough
poison to kill cart horse, wound is
invariably fatal. Free and immediate
incisiOn is the usual remedy when
wounded on a limb or fleshy part OF
the body, but at Chanska the uncle OF
the Laoowo chief showed us prepara-
ton which resembled opium dross and
which he said was an effective antidote.
With few exceptions the Lissoo
seemed to us to be 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 20 or 81
Yards. Some of the Esekon natives
were so expert that they could hit
mark 4 inches i'm diameter repeatedly
at 60 or so yards. AS not one goes any
where without his crossbow and his
bearskin quiver full of poisoned arrows
and every village is at feud with
every other village mutual suspicion is
inevitable In open fight the Lissoo
are usually careful to keep at a res
pectable 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 am
bush in the jungle are common"