New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-11-04
Progress is the real cure for an over
estimate Of Observation-Disclosures
LAND OF THE CROSSBOW.
The Deadly Poisoned Arrows Of tho
Lissoo Sharpshooters.

The Deadly Poisoned Arrows Of ths
Lissoo Sharpshooters.
On the wild frontier between China
and British Burma is Il barbarous tribe
which has no civilized supervision.
George Forrest. an English traveller,
thus describes the chief weapon Of
these people: "If had to suggest a
title for a book on the upper Salwin
should call it The Land of the Cross
bow which is the characteristic weap-
on of the country and the Lissoo tribe.
Every Lissoo with any pretensions to
chic possesses at least two Of these
weapons-one for everyday use in hunt
ing, the other for war The little chill
dren play with miniature crossbows.
The men never leave their huts for any
purpose whatever without their cross
bows. When they go to sleep the snu-
kung' is hung over their heads, and
when they die it is hung over their
graves. The largest crossbows have
span of fully five feet and require
pull Of fully thirty-five pounds to string
them. The bow is made Of species Of
wild mulberry of great toughness and
flexibility. The stock, some four feet
long in the war bows, is usually Of
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 for quarter
to one-third Of an inch, then for fully
an inch the arrow is stripped to half it's
thickness, and on this portion poison is
| placed.
"The poison is invariably a decoction
expressed from the tubers Of species
of aconitum which grows on those
ranges at an altitude of 5000 to 10000
feet. The poison is mixed with resin
ency Of putty and is then smeared on
the notched point. The feather is sup
| piled by 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 car
/ ries enough poison to kill a cart horse,
a wound is Invariably fatal Free and
Immediate incision is the usual remedy
/ when wounded on limb or feshy part
Of the body, but at Chengka the uncle
OF the LaoWo chief showed us a prep
aration 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 war bow will pierce
la deal board an inch thick at seventy
or eighty yards. Some of the Tsekou
natives We're SO expert that they could
/ hit mark four inches in diameter re-
! peatedly at 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 Lissoo are usually
careful to keep at a respectful distance
4 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"