The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1909-01-26
EXPERT WITH BOWS.
WEAPONS OF LiSSOO NATIVES
ON CHlNA.BURMEsE BORDER.
Are Splendid Marksmen and Although
CoWardly Their Use of Poisoned
Arrows Makes Them For
midabe as Foes.

On the wild frontier between China
and British Burma is barbarous
tribe which has no civilized supervi.
sion. 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 Crossbow
which is the Characteristic weapon 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
hunting and the other for war. The
little children play with miniature
crossboWs, The men never leave their
nuts for any purpose whatever with
out their crossbows; 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 five feet, and require a pull of
fully 80 pounds to string them The
bow Is made of species of wild null
berry of great toughness and flexi-
bility; the stock, some four feet long
In the war bows, is usually of wild
plum wood; the string is Of plated
hemp and the trigger of bone.
'Ihe arrow, of l6 to IS inches, Is of
split bamboo about four times the
thickness of an ordinary knitting nee.
die, 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 that portion poison Is placed
This poison is invariably decoc-
ton expressed from the tubers of
species of aconitum, which grows on
those ranges at an altitude of 5000 to
10000 feet. The poison is paixed with
resin, or some vegetable gum, to the
of putty, and Is then
smeared on the notched point
The feather is supplied 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 reduction In thickness OF the |
arrow where the poison is placed |
causes the point to break off in the
body Of any one whom II strikes, and |
rs each carries enough poison to Kill |
horse a wound is invariably fatal. |
free and immediate incision is the
Usual remedy when wounded on a
limb or fleshy part of the body; but
1t Cheng,ka the uncle OF the Lao-wo
'hief showed us a preparation which
esembled opium dross. and which he |
laid was an effective antidote.
with few exceptions the Lissoo
seemed to us to be arrant towards.
,ut the crossbow and poisoned arrow
S certainly a most diabolical weapon.
IN arrow from a war bow will pierce
| deal board an inch thick at 20 or
20 yards Some of the Tsekou natives
we're so expert that they could hit
mark four inches in diameter repeat.
'dly at 60 to so Yards.
AS no one goes anywhere without
lis crossbow and bearskin culver full
If poisoned arrows, and as every vii
age is at feud with every other vii.
age. mutual suspicion is inevitable
In open fight the Tissoo are usual
y careful to keep at a respectful dis
ance from each other and behind OK
tide shields which protect the whole
'ody. But IL battle is rare, murder
nd sudden death by ambush in the
ungle are common"