POISONED ARROWS 



that the earth-eating Otomaks were able to kill their 

 antagonists by the mere pressure of their poisoned thumb- 

 nails. 



In Africa it is more usual to find poisoned arrows shot 

 from a bow. The exquisitely beautiful seed of Strophanthus 

 Komhe is used as an arrow poison. The plant is a climber 

 found in forests or bush, and has large woody pods about 

 seven to twelve inches long. When these are open, the 

 inside is seen to be full of the small yellowish seeds ; 

 each ends in a fine awn three to four inches long, which 

 carries at the end a beautiful tuft of the finest silky 

 hairs. The seed-coat is also covered with silk hairs. When 

 viewed against a black surface, there is no more lovely object 

 in nature. Yet from the seed-coat a very deadly poison is 

 obtained; probably snake-venom and various gluey sub- 

 stances form part of the mixture, which is daubed on the 

 arrows. Dr. Kolbe saw the Hottentots plastering their 

 arrows with the poison of the hooded snake. Bushmen use a 

 Lily bulb, Haemanthtis toccicariics, but sometimes add part of 

 the inside of a small caterpillar. 



Another African poison which is not so well known is the 

 AcoJcarUhera, which was the ingredient in the arrows obtained 

 by the writer in British East Africa. 



North America is singularly free from these unsportsman- 

 like and horrible weapons, but they were not unknown in 

 Europe in very ancient times. Pliny speaks of the Arabian 

 pirates as poisoners, and allusions to their use of deadly 

 arrows can be found in Horace, Ovid, and Homer. In the 

 Odyssey^ the hero goes to Ephyra (Epirus ?) to purchase a 

 deadly arrow poison, but he is refused for fear of the eternal 

 gods. Poisoned arrows were employed by the Celts in Gaul, 

 and also by the Saracens in the War of Granada in 1484. 



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