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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



thickness of an ordinary knitting needle, 

 hardened and pointed ; the actual point 

 is bare for a quarter to one-third of an 

 inch, then for fully an inch the arrow is 

 stripped to half its thickness, and on this 

 portion the poison is placed. 



The poison used is invariably a decoc- 

 tion extracted from the tubers of a 

 species of aconitum which grows on those 

 ranges at an altitude of 8,000 to 10,000 

 feet. The poison is mixed with resin or 

 some vegetable gum to the consistency of 

 putty, and is then smeared on the notched 

 point. The "feather" is supplied by a 

 strip of bamboo leaf folded into a tri- 

 angular form and tied in a notch at the 

 end of the arrow, with the point of the 

 angle outward. The reduction in thick- 

 ness of the arrow where the poison is 

 placed causes the point to break off in 

 the body of any one whom it strikes, and, 

 as each carries enough poison to kill a 

 horse, a wound is invariably fatal. Free 

 and immediate incision is the usual rem- 

 edy when wounded on a limb or fleshy 

 part of the body, but at Cheng-ka the 

 uncle of the Lao-wo chief showed us 

 a preparation which resembled opium 

 dross, and which he said was an effective 

 antidote. Its nature and preparation is 

 a secret known only to the prophets. We 

 saw one man at Cheng-ka who had been 

 wounded through the fleshy part of the 

 arm in a fight, and through the use of the 

 remedy had quite recovered, but in its 

 passage the head of the arrow had not 

 broken off. 



The marvelous Chinese stories which 

 one hears of the Lissoo have to be taken 

 with a good deal of salt. The Lissoo are 

 not a fighting people, and, with few ex- 

 ceptions, seemed to us to be arrant cow- 

 ards, but the crossbow and poisoned 

 arrow is certainly a most diabolical 

 weapon. An arrow from a war bow will 



pierce a deal board an inch thick at yo 

 to 80 yards; some of my servants were 

 so expert that they could hit a mark 4 

 inches in diameter repeatedly at 60 to 8q 

 yards. As no one goes anywhere with- 

 out his crossbow and his bearskin quiver 

 full of those poisoned arrows, and as 

 every village is at feud with every other, 

 mutual suspicion, of a nature to abso- 

 lutely prevent social intercourse, is in- 

 evitable. 



In open fight the Lissoo are usually 

 careful to keep at a respectable distance 

 from each other and behind their three- 

 sided ox-hide shields; these protect the 

 whole body, which is still further safe- 

 guarded by a heavily-padded cloth belt 

 extending from the breast down to the 

 hips. But if battle is rare, murder and 

 sudden death by ambush in the jungle 

 are common. The Lissoo has all the 

 lack of self-control which marks the sav- 

 age, and it is so easy to bend down, 

 string a bow, and send an arrow into 

 any one with whom one has a difference. 

 I can recommend any traveler who falls 

 in with a tipsy or bellicose Lissoo with a 

 crossbow to shoot first and argue after- 

 ward. The first step in civilizing these 

 people would be to deprive them of their 

 horrible weapons. 



The wild Lissoo are much addicted to 

 strong drink ; they make a fermented, 

 not a distilled, liquor out of millet or 

 maize, which resembles strong Japanese 

 sake. They are so improvident they 

 habitually use for wine grain which is 

 required for food. 



We were able to lift a corner of the 

 curtain which has hidden them hitherto 

 from the outer world, and I think they 

 may in future be safely left to enjoy in 

 obscurity their dirt, their fever, their 

 limestone ridges, their poisoned arrows, 

 and their wild honey. 



