Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1910-03-17
EXPERT WITH BOWS
WEAPONS OF LIssoo NATIVES
ON cHINA.sURMEsE BORDER.
Are Splendid Marksmen and Although
Cowardly Their Use of Poisoned
Arrows Makes Them For
midable as Foes.

On the wild frontier between China
and British Burma is a barbarous
. tribe which has no civilized superyi-
sion. George Forrest, 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
cal it The Land of the Crossbow.'
"hlch 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 Tor any purpose whatever with
out their crossbows; whe, they go to
sleep the 'nukung is hung over their
heads. and when they die it is hung
Owe" heir graves
fhe largest 'crossbows have span
OF iully 1--WE feet, and require a pull of
lully 80 pounds to string them. The
DOW is made Of a species OF wild mul.
perry OF great toughness and nexi-
Dlllty; the stock, some four feet long
In the war bows, is usually of wild
plnn wood; the string is Of plated
hemB and the trigger of bone.
The arrow, of 16 TO IS inches. is of
splt bamboo, about four times the
thickness OF an ordinary kaitting nee.
Ole, hardened and pointed: the actual
point is bare for quarter to one.third
OF an inch. then for fully az inch the
arrow c c ri
ana On that portion poison is placed.
!hiS poison IS invariably a decoc-
hon expressed from the tn ers of
sec. eS or a'Cr!mT. which grows on
Csc rangF s ~ an altitude cf 5000 to
10000 feet. Tho noison is r,ixed with
q in. or some vegetable gun. to the
co'sl'fencv Of Hutty. and is then
smeared on the Iotched point.
the feather is supplied by a strip
OF bamboo leaf folded into triangular
form and tied in a notch al the end
OF the arrow. with the point of the
angle outward.
''Fhe reduction in thickness of the
arrow where the poison Is pIaced
causes the point to break Of in the
hNay OF any one whom it strikes. and
as each carries enough poison to kill
a morse a wound is invariably fatal.
Free and immediate incisi0u Is The
usual remedy when wounded on q
hmb or feshy part of the body: but
at Cheng-ka the uncle of the Lao-wo
chlel showed MS preparation which
resembled opium dross, and which he
said was an effective antidofe.
with few exceptions the Lissoo
seemed to ''s TO be arrant towards
Dut the crossbow and poisoned arrow
Is certainly most diabolical weapon.
An arrow from war bow will pierce
a deal board an inch thick at 20 or
~ yards. Some of the Tsekou natives
were so expert that they could hit a
mark four inches in diameter repeat-
edly at so to 80 yards.
AS no one gees anywhere without
MS crossbow and bearskin culver full
OF poisoned arrows, and as every vii
lage Is at feud with every other viii
lage, mutual suspicion is inevitable.
I'm open fight the Lissoo are usual.
~ careful to keep at q respectful dis.
tance from each other and behind OK.
hide shields which protect the whole
body. But II battle is rare. murder
and sudden death by ambush in the
jungle are common"