The blowgun28 is used sporadically and perfunctorily on the far upper Agúsan, but I have never seen it anywhere else among Manóbos.29 It is used for shooting small birds, chickens, and mice. It is made of an internode of a variety of bamboo30 about 1.2 meters long and 12.5 millimeters in diameter, to which is joined another internode about 20 centimeters long and of slightly larger diameter. This forms the mouthpiece. I have never seen any 'decorative work on a blowpipe. The dart is a thin tapering piece of bamboo about 35 centimeters long and 1.5 millimeters in diameter at the butt. Enough cotton to fill the bore of the gun is fastened at the butt end of the dart. It is discharged by the breath. The point is never poisoned, nor is there any tradition as to the former use of poison on these darts.
28Sum-pí-tan.
29Its use by the Mandáyas of the Kati'il, Manorígau, and Karága Rivers is very common, but so far as I know it is neither a defensive nor an offensive weapon.
30La-hi'.
The blowgun, when in use, is held to the mouth with the right hand. The maximum range is about 20 meters. I have seen very small birds killed at a distance of about 8 meters.
CHAPTER XII
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES
DIVISION OF LABOR
It is to be expected that among a people whose women have been obtained practically by purchase the burden of work will fall on the woman. The Manóbo man, however, at times performs an amount of heavy, hard work that makes the division somewhat equitable.