Stirring scenes in savage lands

by James Greenwood

And so this precious game of “if you will I will,” and “you hit me first,” was continued for many days,—more days indeed than the reader would guess if he were left to his own judgment. The row between Subtu and Illudeen took place on the 31st of October, and on the 18th of the following January the enemy was routed and his forts destroyed.

One of the most favourite of Dayak war weapons is the “sumpitan,” a long hollow reed, through which is propelled by the breath small darts or arrows, chiefly formidable on account of the poison with which their tips are covered. According to Mundy and other writers on Bornean manners and customs, the arrows are contained in a bamboo case hung at the side, and at the bottom of this quiver is the poison of the upas. The arrow is a piece of wood sharp-pointed, and inserted in a socket made of the pith of a tree, which fits the tube of the blow-pipe. The natives carry a small calabash for these arrow heads, and on going into action prepare a sufficient number, and fresh dip the points in the poison, as its deadly influence does not continue long. When they face an enemy the box at the side is open; and, whether advancing or retreating, they fire the poisoned missiles with great rapidity and precision: some hold four spare arrows between the fingers of the hand which grasps the sumpitan, whilst others take their side case.

In advancing, the sumpitan is carried at the mouth and elevated, and they will discharge at least five arrows to one compared with a musket. Beyond a distance of twenty yards they do not shoot with certainty, from the lightness of the arrow, but on a calm day, the range may be a hundred yards. The poison is considered deadly by the Kayans, but the Malays do not agree in this belief. “My own impression is,” says Captain Mundy, “that the consequences resulting from a wound are greatly exaggerated, though if the poison be fresh death may occasionally ensue; but, decidedly, when it has been exposed for any time to the air it loses its virulence. My servant was wounded in the foot by an arrow which had been kept about two months; blood flowed from the puncture, which caused me considerable alarm; but sulphuric acid being applied in conjunction with caustic directly afterwards, he felt no bad effects whatever.”

All the tribes who use the sumpitan, from their peculiar mode of fighting, and the dread of the weapon, are called Nata Hutan, or “Wood Devils.” Besides the sumpitan they also wear the “ilang,” or sword, which is carved at the angle in the rude shape of a horse’s head, and ornamented with tufts of hair, red or black; the blades of these swords are remarkable, one side being convex, the other concave. They are usually very short, but of good metal and fine edge. These warriors wear coats of deer hide, and caps of basket work, some fantastically decorated; and a shield hung over their backs of stout wood, in addition to the weapons already mentioned, forms their equipment for service. It is really curious to witness their movements when the order is given to go out to skirmish—one by one, with a quick pace, yet steady and silent tread, they glide into the bushes or long grass, gain the narrow paths, and gradually disappear in the thickest jungle.

The chief weapon used by the Amazonian Indians closely resembles the Dayak sumpitan, and is called “pucuna.” Its manufacture and use is thus graphically described by Captain Reid:—

“When the Amazonian Indian wishes to manufacture for himself a pucuna he goes out into the forest and searches for two tall straight stems of the ‘pashiuba miri’ palm. These he requires of such thickness that one can be contained within the other. Having found what he wants, he cuts both down and carries them home to his molocca. Neither of them is of such dimensions as to render this either impossible or difficult. He now takes a long slender rod—already prepared for the purpose—and with this pushes out the pith from both stems, just as boys do when preparing their pop-guns from the stems of the elder-tree. The rod thus used is obtained from another species of Iriartea palm, of which the wood is very hard and tough. A little tuft of fern-root, fixed upon the end of the rod, is then drawn backward and forward through the tubes, until both are cleared of any pith which may have adhered to the interior; and both are polished by this process to the smoothness of ivory. The palm of smaller diameter, being scraped to a proper size, is now inserted into the tube of the larger, the object being to correct any crookedness in either, should there be such; and if this does not succeed, both are whipped to some straight beam or post, and thus left till they become straight. One end of the bore, from the nature of the tree, is always smaller than the other; and to this end is fitted a mouthpiece of two peccary tusks to concentrate the breath of the hunter when blowing into the tube. The other end is the muzzle; and near this, on the top, a sight is placed, usually a tooth of the ‘paca’ or some other rodent animal. This sight is glued on with a gum which another tropic tree furnishes. Over the outside, when desirous of giving the weapon an ornamental finish, the maker winds spirally a shining creeper, and then the pucuna is ready for action.

“Sometimes only a single shank of palm is used, and instead of the pith being pushed out, the stem is split into two equal parts throughout its whole extent. The heart substance being then removed, the two pieces are brought together, like the two divisions of a cedar-wood pencil, and tightly bound with a sipo.

“The pucuna is usually about an inch and a half in diameter at the thickest end, and the bore about equal to that of a pistol of ordinary calibre. In length, however, the weapon varies from eight to twelve feet.

“This singular instrument is designed, not for propelling a bullet, but an arrow; but as this arrow differs altogether from the common kind, it also needs to be described.

“The blow-gun arrow is about fifteen or eighteen inches long, and is made of a piece of split bamboo; but when the ‘patawa’ palm can be found, this tree furnishes a still better material, in the long spines that grow out from the sheathing bases of its leaves. These are eighteen inches in length, of a black colour, flattish though perfectly straight. Being cut to the proper length—which most of them are without cutting—they are whittled at one end to a sharp point. This point is dipped about three inches deep in the celebrated ‘curare’ poison; and just where the poison mark terminates, a notch is made, so that the head will be easily broken off when the arrow is in the wound. Near the other end a little soft down of silky cotton (the floss of the bombax ceiba) is twisted around into a smooth mass of the shape of a spinning-top, with its larger end towards the nearer extremity of the arrow. The cotton is held in its place by being lightly whipped on by the delicate thread or fibre of a bromelia, and the mass is just big enough to fill the tube by gently pressing it inward.