ROTH] WEAPONS: HUNTING AND FIGHTING 163 
lanceolate arrows are feathered. Lanceolate bamboo arrows are used 
by Wapishana (A) and some of the Makusi for deer and jaguar. 
The latter speak of them as rappu, the name of the bamboo, which is 
said to be poisonous (sec. 123), the former as wad. Lanceolate bam- 
boo-headed arrows are recorded from among the Trio and Oyana of 
Surinam (GOE, pl. v, fig. 4). The former call them pala; the 
latter kurmuri. 
From our own colony, Waterton was the first to describe an appar- 
ently lanceolate composite arrowhead made of wood and poisoned. 
It differed from that of the Siusi, Kobéua, and Umdéua in that, in- 
stead of a special casing to hold seven arrows, there was employed 
a special box or quiver to hold a number of heads for a single arrow. 
The arrows, he says, are from 4 to 5 feet in length, made of a yellow 
reed without a knot or joint. . . . A piece of hardwood about 9 
inches long is inserted into the ends of the reed and fastened with 
cotton well waxed. A square hole an inch deep is then made in the 
end of this piece of hardwood, wound tight with cotton to keep it 
from splitting. Into this square hole is fitted a spike of coucowrite 
(kokerit) wood, poisoned, and which may be kept there or taken 
out at pleasure. A joint of bamboo about as thick as your finger 
is fitted on over the poisoned spike to prevent accidents and to pro- 
tect it from the rain, and is taken off when the arrow is about to be 
used. Lastly, two feathers are fastened on the other end of the reed 
to steady it in its flight. They take care to put the poison on thicker at 
the middle than at the sides, by which means the spike retains the shape 
of atwo-edged sword. . . . About a quarter of an inch above the 
part where the coucowrite spike is fixed into the square hole he cuts 
it half through; and thus, when it has entered the animal, the weight 
of the arrow causes it to break off there, by which means the arrow 
falls to the ground uninjured; so that, should this be the only arrow 
he happens to have with him, and should another shot immediately 
occur,-he has only to take another poisoned spike out of his little 
bamboo box, fit it on his arrow, and send it to its destination; for, 
besides his bow and arrows, the Indian carries a little box made of 
bamboo, which holds a dozen or 15 poisoned spikes 6 inches long. 
They are poisoned in the following manner: A small piece of wood 
is dipped in the poison, and with this they give the spike a first coat. 
It is then exposed to the sun or fire. After it is dry it receives another 
coat and is then dried again; after this, a third coat, and sometimes 
a fourth (W, 101-102). Appun speaks of certain Wapishana being 
all armed with bows and arrows, who carried besides several poisoned 
arrowheads in a bamboo quiver, with a leather cover, hanging down 
their backs (App, 1, 562). Among the Makusi I came across a 
poisoned arrow, with bamboo cover (fig. 51°C), which bears very 
close correspondence with Waterton’s description, save that instead 
