lo Allan, Battack Printing i?i Java. 



welding together selected pieces of metal which approxi- 

 mate to our wrought iron and soft steel in composition. 

 No less than 5 strips of metal are welded together to 

 make the blade, the central and two outer ones being of 

 steel and the two others of wrought iron, the strips of this 

 metal having previously been bent up into a kind of 

 serpentine ribbon. The various pieces of metal are welded 

 together at one operation, and the welding temperature is 

 such that the more fluid steel is forced between the 

 corrugations of the wrought iron ribbons producing the 

 damascened structure which is so much desired. From 

 this compound piece of metal the blade is shaped by 

 rubbing down on a stone, and finally, to more fully 

 develop the damascening, it is pickled by being boiled for 

 two or three days in rice water to which some sulphur 

 and nitre obtained from the soil have been added. 



The sheath for the kris is formed from solid wood 

 and has a large curved cross-piece at the top resembling 

 a sword guard, which, owing to its size and shape, enables 

 the wearer to carry the weapon in the folds of his sarong 

 without cords or straps of any kind. 



BORNEAN SUMPITAN AND UPAS FOLSON. 



It is impossible to take up any book describing the 

 habits and customs of the Dyaks of Borneo without 

 finding some mention of the deadly poisoned darts of 

 the sumpitan or blowtube which is universally employed 

 by them both as a means of obtaining food and in their 

 many intertribal wars. 



The sumpitan is a tube formed from a hard brownish 

 black wood called by the Dyaks " tapang " and is about 

 7 or 8 feet long having an external diameter of about an 

 inch and an internal diameter of about a quarter of an 



