Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1910-03-09
EXPERT WITH BOWS
WEAPONS OF lIssoo NATIVES
ON cHINA-BURMEsE BORDER.
Are Splendid Marksmen and Although
cowardly Their Use of Poisoned
Arrows Makes Them For
midable az Foes.

vi lhO Win lIS'ullST UGlWSen
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:
I'lf | had to suggest a tiils for
book on the upper Salwin 1 should
call ii 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 il is hung
over their graves
THE largest crossboYs have a span
OF fully five feet, and require a pull of
luily 30 pounds to string them. The
DOW Is made of species or wild mul.
berry of great toughness and fexi.
bility; the stock, some fou- 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 18 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-tbird
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 a decoc.
t'on c%prcssed from the tuhers of
s1ecies "f atCnitum, which grows on
thos" range S at an altitude Of 5000 to
10000 feet. The Doison is mixed with
resin, or som" vegetable gum. to the
consistency ni ?utty. and is then
smeared on the notched po'nt.
The feather is supplied hv strip
OF bamboo leaf folded into triangular
form and tied in a notch at the end
or the arrow with the point of the
an9le outward.
The reduction in thickness of the
arrow where the poison is placed
causes the point TO break of in the
body Of any one whom 1t strikes. and
as each carries enough poison to kill
morse wound is invariably fatal
free and immediate incisicn Is the
usual remedy when wounded Oh
limb or feshy part Of the body: but
az Cheng-ka the uncle of tho Lao-wo
CHIEF showed us a preparation which
resembled opium dross, and which he
said was an effective antidote.
with few exceptions the Lissoo
seemed to ''s to be arrant towards.
but the croSsbow and poisoned arrow
Is certainly most diabolica' weapon.
An arrow from a war bow will pierce
n deal board an inch thick ut 20 or
30 yards. Some of the Tsekou natives
were so expert that they could hit a
mark four inches in diameter repeat.
edly at go to 80 Yards.
"As no one gees anywhere without
his crossbow and bearskin culver full
of poisoned arrows, and as every vii
lage Is at feud with every other vii
iage. mutual suspicion is inevitable.
I'm open fight the Lissoo are usual
ly careful to keep at a respc ful dis.
tance from each other and bchind OK
hide shields which protect the whole
body. But If battle is rare. murder
and sudden death by ambush in the
Jungle are common"