Show QUEER AIR DRIVEN MISSILES 1 There are two kinds of blowpipes In use among the Indians of Guiana The first called the poocoonn is niatlf o the oorah reed This remarkable reca Is only found In the Orinoco river amid there only at certain spots The oorah giowu to the height of at least thirty feet and the basal Joint of which the blowpipe Is I made is fourteen or fifteen feet long straight ns an arrow and without a knot The Inside of the reed Is I as smooth as glass hence the fnclllly with which the dart traverses It Very little of the reed IB cut away so that the pipe Is about twelve feet long and so strong that when held horizontally there is not the least bento to If t The reed having been carefully selected se-lected cut and prepared Is enclosed In a small thin palm trunk which Is 1 spilt open for the purpose scraped thin as I wafer and then rejoined with the reed in the center This palm for length stralghtness and lightness Is as j remarkable as the reed The whole 1 pipe when finished never weighs more than a pound and a half or a pound J and threequarters Both the mouth r or muzzle and thc brooch are bell mouthed the boll pieces being fixed on There are front and back sights the latter formed of the curved teeth of the Dasyprocta acouohl a species of rodent rolen somewhat larger In size than n wild rabbit Two of the incisors of this animal ani-mal arc fixed on the breech of the pipe by means of wax The teeth being i placed parallel to each other and very t close together the sight Is taken be tween them Sometimes the foresight Is made In the same way hut It molC often consists of the single sharp tooth of a fish I Is placed about a foot back rom the > muxxle the back sight being affixed four feet along the tube I so that It Is a considerable distance from the eye when aiming The missile used with this tube la i misnamed an arrow 11 Is I reahl mlsnamed I really 1 dart scarcely bigger than a largo I darning needle and with a point quite 1 as fine The dart If made of the rib 4 L of the coocooreete palm leaf and Is jj 1 M so heavy that It will sink In water It P Is about seven Inches in length not lenglh thicker than a large needle and the J usual number that an Indian carries with when shooting Is from 350 to 5001 ready poisoned but not prepared with 1J the necessary cotton plugs These darts are strung together something like the reeds on which soft cheeses are placed and then rolled on a stick and carried In a quiver points uppermost upper-most it being requisite to piotect them from every chance of being broken or dulled To protest the hand when j handling them the top of the stick Is l furnished wilh a small wheel lee a shield 5 The fine noinls are len to the darts by I means of the teeth of the devilfish tcett Serrasalmua plrayal and the cotton with which they are plugged before use Is found growing wild I Is bound j to the base of the dart with the thread made of silk grass this thread with wax obtained from several trees being 1 largely used In making the blowpipe The skill used In binding the plug oC I colon to the dart must he great or It will not fly true and n when shot The Indian never carries more than I five or six ready plugged and when these are lost he must draw others 1 from the quiver and plug them He always i al-ways tries them repeatedly before ut = t ant perhaps never succeeds in getting one to fly perfectly true But If It la only a few Inches out of flight like a rifleman in aiming he makes allowance allow-ance for thin inaccuracy and it proves to be of little moment The distance to and accuracy with which these darts are shot are simply wonderful though the darts do not strike with anv rreat force The doath of the game Is occasioned not f by the Impact but by the poison by which the dart Is tipped The poison lodges In a tiny groove cut or rather scratched In the dart for the purpose of affording It a lodgement and also In the notch cut near the tip So finely pointed is the dart that It will penctratp the flesh on a mere touch and If any animal such as a monkey Irritated by the prick endeavors endea-vors to draw It from the wound It breaks at the notch anti leaves the fatal jag behind There Is a knack in blowing the darts further but the Indians puff them double dou-ble from the pine I have succeeded In propelling them about a hundred yards and T have never seen a European Euro-pean send them further but the Indians In-dians puff them double that distance and at a hundred to a hundred and fifty yards will hit a mark only a few J Inches square I have seen native marksmen who could hit parorts and toucans at the last distance once In i two or throe shots When a dart has been shot If It A misses its mark the Indian takes great pains to find it on account of the danger dan-ger It Is to persons walking near the spot for If trodden on it Is as likely to be ait fatal as the bite of the most venomous snake T have formed the opinion that the woorall poison used to dip the darts owes Its great virulence to the venom of a snake which I think Is mixed with It but I need not discuss dis-cuss that matter here S Although It is so light lie blowpipe Is a clumsy weapon to handle on tic count of Us great length and It Is so easily damaged The slightest wrench uj or knock renders It useless and the Indian is most careful to avoid accidents acci-dents of this kind He carries tho tube 1 in a vertical position never leans It against a tree or places It on th ground without being sure thai It will lie perfectly fiat and xvhrn It is not In use it Is suspended in an upright position to tIme bough of a tree or to I a post erected near tilt hut for the purpose it pur-pose 0 The darts must fit the tube closely enough to resist the papsage of the tiniest tin-iest stream of air and yet so loosely as to traverse It easily and thin attaching at-taching of the cotton plugs Is a troublesome trou-blesome business which often occupies the Indian for hours at a sitting When the dart is placed In the tubo It Is pushed up with a small stick a dlstanco of about fourteen Inches from tuG mouthpiece At Ihls distance from tho mouth the greatest force of the breath ti Is obtained but It Is a matter of much practlcn to manage the breath properly it prop-erly A steady somewhat prolonged puff line more effect than a short sharp one Longmans Magazine S |