Blowpipe

Blowpipe, a kind of weapon much used by some of the Indian tribes of South America, both in war and for killing game. It consists of a long straight tube, in which a small poisoned arrow is placed, and forcibly expelled by the breath. The tube or blowpipe, called gravatana, pucuna, &c., is 8 to 12 feet long, the bore not generally large enough to admit the little-finger. It is made of reed or of the stem of a small palm. Near Pará, it is in general very ingeniously and nicely made of two stems of a palm (Iriartea setigera) of different diameters, the one fitted into the other. In some places the inner tube is formed of the thin stem of a reed, protected by an outer one of this palm. A sight is affixed to it near the end. The arrows used in that district are 15 to 18 inches long, made of the spines of another palm, sharply pointed, notched so as to break off in the wound, and their points covered with Curari (q.v.) poison. A little soft down of the silk-cotton tree is twisted round each arrow, so as exactly to fit the tube. In Peru, arrows of only $1\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ to 2 inches long are used, and a different kind of poison seems to be employed. An accidental wound from one of these poisoned arrows not infrequently proves fatal. In the hand of a practised Indian, the blowpipe is a very deadly weapon, and particularly when directed against birds sitting in the tops of high trees. As his weapon makes no noise, the hunter often empties his quiver before he gathers up the game, and does more execution than an English sportsman could with his double-barrelled fowling-piece. In Borneo, the Dyaks have a similar blowpipe called a sumpitan. It, however, has an iron spear-head tied on the end so that it can be used as a spear. It is employed both in war and hunting. Small arrows, which have on their end a piece of pith adapted to the bore of the tube, are used. These are pointed with sharp fish-teeth and poisoned with upas. They are blown with great accuracy; and if the upas-juice is fresh, a wound from an arrow, fired at a distance of 40 yards, proves fatal to man. See POISON.