SILENT DEATH

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19374, 24 December 1932, Page 19

SILENT DEATH

JUNGLE BLOWGUNS. AGE-OLD WEAPON OF PRIMITIVE MAIN. A troop of monkeys, chattering in the treetops, swinging from bough to bough, suddenly becomes still. Something akin to paralysis seems to have fastened its grip upon one of the gay band. He tries vainly to maintain his balance upon a limb. Then he turns limp and tumbles to the ground, stone dead. Death as noiseless as the strring of a leaf has overtaken him. It is the strange death of the jungle that goes with the silent flick of a tiny sliver of a dart. It is death shot from a blowgun—propelled by the breath of a stealthy bronzed hunter who lurks in the shadows of the jungle. It is just another monkey, potted by the hunter to make monkey stew. Tragedies of this kind have been a part of the jungle programme for centuries. Sometimes it is a monkey that is shot down from a bough, sometimes a bird falls before the dart of a blowgun, sometimes a wild pig is slain as it tries to elude the hunter, and sometimes—when a tribal war is on—the victim is a man. Blowguns are deadly weapons, especially when the darts are laden with quick-killing poison, as they usually are when the hunter is after big game.

In the Eastern Hemisphere the blowgnn is employed by natives of the Malay Peninsula. Borneo and Madagascar. In the Western Hemisphere the blowgun is used chiefly by the tribes which inhabit the savannah regions of the Guianas in South America, though some of the forest dwellers have adopted the weapon. Even North American Indians have been known to employ the blowgun as a weapon. The Iroquois in early days are said to have been quite proficient at making and using the blowgun. and there are to-day within the United States isolated instances of the use of the blowgun among semicivilised Indians.

Darts Dipped in Poison. In South America the Macusis are the most noted manufacturers of the poison for darts used with the blowgun, and it is from them that the poison substance is widely distributed. The blowgun of the South American natives is from 12ft. to 16ft. in length, and the darts have a length of about 6in. The darts are effective on birds and monkeys at ranges up to 50ft. The darts of the South American blowguns are simple splinters of wood from the mid-rib of a palm, notched near the point so that the poison becomes detached in the wound of the beast or bird that has been shot. The poison used is aurali, more commonly known as curare. When the poison is made a small isolated hut is erected for the purpose, and into the secrets of the preparation no woman or child may pry. The recipe is the hereditary knowledge of specialists, who alone are authorised to make the preparation. Added to the poison curare are fangs of snakes, pepper and ants, all of which are simmered for 24 hours until a paste is prepared.

The blowgun is a deadly weapon in the hands of members of various tribes in Borneo, particularly the Punans, a typically nomadic jungle tribe. The Punans sometimes make stealthy attacks on enemies with their blowguns, but more frequently the poisoned darts are used for killing small game. In order to make a blowgun, the Borneo native erects a platform seven feet high. He stands upon this platform to bore the pipe, which is firmly lashed so as to allow one end to extend above- the platform. Boring of the hardwood is done in about six hours, then the bore is polished with slender strips of rattan. The Borneo blowgun is eight feet long, and the dart about nine inches. At the butt of each dart is a cylinder of pith having a diameter the same as that of the bore of the weapon. Poison is made from the sap of the ipoh tree, which is simmered until a thick paste is formed. The lethal paste is applied to the tips of the darts with a spatula. Some of the Borneo hunters, partcularly members of the Kenyah and Kayan tribes, attach spearheads or knives to the muzzles of their blowguns in bayonet fashion to ward off attacks of wounded enemies or beasts. When the native intends to use a spearhead on the blowgun he first curves the muzzle end of the weapon slightly by the use of heat. He peers through the bore, and when only twothirds of the muzzle opening is visible from the mouthpiece end he fixes the blowgun in that position by the application of heat. The weight of the spearhead, which is then attached by fibres, compensates for the curve of the weapon and returns it again to a perfectly straight position.

Range of Sixty Yards. In the Malay Peninsula blowguns are used by the Northern Jakun, the Sakai, and some of the Serang tribes. Blowguns in the hands of the most expert of these natives have an accurate range of sixty yards. In the Malay Peninsula, as in Borneo, the poison is made from the latex of the ipoh tree, a name which is of Malayan origin. Among the Semang the blowgun is remarkable for its smooth inner tube, which is protected by an outer tube. In the Malay Peninsula bamboo is the favourite wood for blowguns, but in Borneo a hardwood without nodes is used. The Borneo craftsman, therefore, requires the greater skill for the boring process.

The Sakalava of Western Madagascar have a blowgun which is from sixteen to eighteen feet in length, half an inch in diameter, and so flexible that it has to be rested on a branch while shooting. The arrows are much larger than the darts used in other parts of the world. Each arrow has a length of about twenty inches, but no poison is applied to the iron point. The arrows are tipped at their butts with pigeon feathers, and their construction makes them suitable for shooting lemurs.

The method of discharging a dart through a blowgun is very much the same in every locality in which the weapon is used. The butt end of the dart, tipped with pith, feathers, or a wad of cotton, fits snugly in the bore of the blowgun. The hunter releases his breath into the tube much as a musician blows into a brass wind instrument—-that is, by a tonguing method. The column of air behind the dart forces it through the tube with increased momentum until it reaches the muzzle of the weapon. The pith at the butt end of the dart holds the missile on its course with the pointed end foremost.