PRIMITIVE WEAPONS AND ARMOR OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 33 



oil for hours until a brilliant polish results. The operator sits 

 the while on the bare ground. Feathering practiced by the JNIoro 

 differs from that of the Negrito. The Negrito uses the entire 

 feather of a bird and places it fiat against and parallel to the 

 shaft, while the Moro splits the shaft near the nock end with the 

 sharp point of a knife and the feather is then dropped in the slot 

 so that the grain or the feathering projects at right angles to the 

 plane of the shaft. The feather and the encompassing shaft is 

 bound at the nock end with waxed and corded bejuco fiber. 



Feathering serves in most cases to accurately guide the flight of 

 the arrow. The feathering of the Negrito arrow, although care- 

 fully wrapped at both stem and feather tip with rattan or other 

 strong fiber is not so effective. The entire feather, usually of a 

 hawk or some other large bird, lies against the surface of the shaft, 

 and while often so curved from stem to tip as to be more of a 

 detriment than an aid in insuring accuracy of aim, lies nevertheless 

 parallel to the shaft, often touching tips with other feathers that 

 have been similarly placed ; the number of feathers thus placed num- 

 bering either two, three, four, or sufficient in number to completely 

 encircle the shaft. Feathering on Negrito arrows is placed not at 

 the nock end or near that end where it would do the most good, 

 but is often attached far down the shaft. It is said that such an 

 arrangement insures magical flight like that of a bird. 



The arrow release as practiced by all of the Filipino peoples 

 including the Negrito is the Mediterranean; the cord is drawn taut 

 with the tips of the three middle fingers, the nock of the arrow 

 coming below the cord. The bow is held in a vertical and never in 

 a horizontal position. One end of the bow is placed on the ground, 

 the bow is then grasped with the left hand just below the center. 

 There is considerable variation between the various tribes in the 

 exact manner in which the arrow is held and in the manipulation 

 of the fingers of the right hand in accomplishing the arrow release, 

 but essentially the same method is followed. (Pis. 16, 17, 19.) 



Philippine arroio poisons. — The well-lmown practice of poison- 

 ing the tips of the tiny missile darts shot from the sumpitan or 

 blowgun is repeated by several Filipino tribes and peoples. In 

 Java and other Malaysian islands the juice of the upas tree is em- 

 ployed for this purpose. The sap of the upas tree is procured by 

 boring a hole in the trunk. Small containers made from a joint 

 of a bamboo stem are filled with the cream}'^ liquid; they are then 

 tightly closed so as to exclude the air. When exposed to the air it 

 rapidly turns black. The arrow or dart point is simply smeared 

 with the juice; if it be fresh the wound is sure to be fatal; if exposed 

 to air the virulency of the poison seems to be greatly diminished. 



