Blowgun "Tuk-Westi"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1 Apr 1889
name: label: Collector
content: Mr. James Mooney
label: Donor Name
content: Bureau Of American Ethnology
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Of bamboo cane. Modern. 'Blowgun (tukwesti): 'Made of ordinary fishing cane now commonly procured from the Keowee river in South Carolina or from the Holston River in Tennessee. Usually 10 to 12 ft. long. The cane is cut to the desired length & the joints bored out with a rasp fixt upon a long handle. The arrow is put in at the larger end, which is held to the lips. A slight puff of breath is sufficient to send the arrow to the top of the tree. This is the favorite weapon, as it is light, noiseless & requires no ammunition, & is used for all kinds of small game. In the season when the ripe berries attract flocks of birds to the gum trees the hunter sometimes takes up a position among the branches of a tree, with his blowgun & half a dozen arrows in his hand & deliberately picks off one bird after another until his arrows are exhausted. he then climbs down again, pulls out the arrows from the bodies of the dead birds & again climbs up to repeat the operation indefinitely, the birds seeming not to take the alarm, as the weapon is noiseless. The dead birds are secured by thrusting their heads up under a bark withe twisted around the waist.' - James Mooney Notes." See darts, E132997.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, Eastern Cherokee Reservation, North Carolina, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Cherokee
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 021819
label: USNM Number
content: E132998-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Blowgun