Wellington Phildsophical Society. 17 



Ml-. Adams claimed that great credit was due to Mr. William Ferguson, C.E. (for 

 many years engineer to the Wellington Harbour Board), for some apparently novel points 

 in this apparatus, constituting, in the speaker's opinion, a distinct ijnprovement in tide- 

 gauges. 



Mr. William Ferguson, C.E., said that careful observations of the readings of the 

 local tide-gauge showed the occurrence in Wellington Harbour of secondary undulations, 

 the cause of which was at present obscure. They seemed to bear some resemblance to 

 the seiches often noticed on lakes. 



Mr. ]\Iartin Chapman, C.E., threw out the suggestion that the secondary undulations 

 spoken of by Mr. Ferguson might possibly be waves generated by the ordinary sea- 

 waves. Mr.' Chapman urged that it was very desirable to have a number of tide-gauges 

 in use in Port Nicholson and its neighbourhood, and to have many gauges round our 

 coasts and in our principal lakes. 



Exhibits.— Mv. A. Hamilton exhibited a blowing-gun whicb had recently- 

 been presented to the Dominion Museum, Wellington, by Mr. George Lee, 

 formerly of Southland aud Westland, but now of Kalantan, in Siam. Mr. 

 Lee had furnished the following description of the weapon : — 



It is used by the Sakis, the aboriginal inhabitants of Malaysia. Of these abori- 

 ginals there are two tribes in the Malay Peninsula — the Sakis on the east side, and the 

 Samangs on the west coast. 



These aboriginals are a negroid race, with brown skins, short curly hair, and thick 

 lips ; of medium size, and about the build of Lascars, seen on so many ships as sailors. 

 They live entirely in the jungle, wear no clothing, and subsist on fruits, roots, snakes, 

 lizards, monkeys, and other jungle animals. Their numbers are unknown. Formerly 

 they were raided and enslaved by the Malays, men and women alike. This led to mixing 

 of the races ; but this enslavement is now forbidden, so that in the forests the race is 

 not much mixed. These aboriginals are a shy, timid people, having a special dread of 

 the white man ; but when their confidence is gained they are cpiite friendly. 



The weapon is called " sumpit " by the .Sakis, and is used by them for defence and 

 hunting. It is a hollow tube, from which a dart is ejected by blowing. The dart is 

 smeared with a poison, which retains its virulence for a long time. The poison is made 

 from certain plants by a secret process. 



The dart is surrounded by a soft vegetable pith at the back end : this acts as a plug 

 filliu" the tube. A small plug of cotton wool is pressed into the tube at the back of or 

 surrounding the pith : this makes the tube airtight at the back of the pith. By blowing 

 into the tube at the back of the plug the breath behind it is compressed to some extent, 

 and this at a certain tension ejects the dart with considerable force. Very accurate 

 shooting can be made at a fair distance with the weapon. Mi-. Lee, with very little 

 practice, was able repeatedly to strike a target of 10 in. diameter at a distance of 

 .30 yards. The poison used is very deadly, and a small animal expires in a few minutes 

 after being struck by a poisoned dart. 



The darts presented with this tube are charged with the poison, so care is necessary 

 in handling them. 



The tube is a remarkable piece of work. It is rifled in the interior, and in order 

 to keep it straight it has a second tube surrounding it. These two principles, rifling and 

 support by a second tube, now used in big-gun making, were applied by the makers of 

 these implements perhaps centuries ago. 



Mr. Hamilton also showed several cases of Lepidoptera from the Waka- 

 tipu district, and some bones of the extinct crow of the Chatham Islands. 



Fourth Meeting : 5th August, 1908. 

 Professor H. B. Kirk, President, in the chair. 

 New Member. — Mr. Hugh Patterson. 

 Papers. — 1. "In-breeding: Have its Evil Effects been exaggerated?" 



by J. W. Poynton. 



Abstract. 



The writer referred to the widespread belief in the injurious effects of in-breeding, 

 but contended that, like the geocentric conception of the universe, and other beliefs of 

 the past once universally accepted, it might be erroneous. 



Inset — Proceedings. 



