50 ' BULLETIN 137, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



while the blowgim is a much more advanced weapon. Both the bow 

 and the blowgiin are designed to increase prehensility of the arm and 

 both employ the aid of a natural force. The general culture level, 

 however, of the Malay and his subjection to higher Asiatic cultures 

 lend probability to the statement that the blowgun is a primitive 

 Malayan weapon. Furthermore, the blowgun was found in general 

 use among the Malayans along with the spear at the time of the 

 rirrival of the Spaniards. The blowgun is employed by some Negrito 

 tribes but not by all. For instance, the Luzon Negritos did not use 

 the weapon. In the same manner that iron weapons are used by 

 Negrito tribes to-day whenever possible, they may formerly have 

 acquired the blowgun. The primitive Negrito-Malay Batak and 

 Tagbanua of Palawan, the pagan Bagobo, and the Yakan Moro of 

 to-day use this weapon as did the Tagalog and Visayan tribes and 

 other more civilized Filipino tribes of early Spanish times. The 

 spear is probably older than the blowgun, as the simplicity of its 

 construction in its most elementary form would seem to indicate. 

 Originally tipped with bamboo, its shaft was usually constructed of 

 the folma hrava or of a bamboo with sharpened end. The notion of 

 fashioning a hollow tube blowgun may have originated through the 

 prior use of some hollow tubed spear. With the advent of iron cul- 

 ture and its more general availability for such purposes iron was 

 substituted for the wood or bamboo spear head. Dr. A. E. Jenks 

 writes that " the head-hunter's battle-ax replaced the spear and the 

 sword in parts of the head-hunting area of northern Luzon. In this 

 manner, tribal bent was definite. A group that used the ax employed 

 it consistently and had no swords. The ax can not be said to be the 

 earlier form; but it is that which prevailed among the more primi- 

 tive tribes possessing least iron and least ability in its manufacture." 



The distribution of weapons of offense other than the bow throush- 

 out Malaysia and more particularly within the Philippines follows 

 no one general principle. Factors contributing to a great variety in 

 design, type of weapon, materials, and ornamentation seem to vary 

 with each locality and tribal group. The larger factors of cultural 

 influence, scarcity, or presence of a plentiful metal supplv, and 

 occupational need or tribal bent combined with a preference or 

 aversion to hand-to-hand fighting are in each group the deciding 

 factors. 



The spear was formerly in general use throughout the Philippines. 

 The wooden spear or one with a bamboo blade gradually lost vogue 

 as the supply of iron became cheap and plentiful enough to serve 

 as a substitute material. The method of hafting seems to varv with 

 the degree of knowledge of metal craft possessed by the individual 

 tribal groups. In the northern sections of Luzon, in the Igorot 



