Puitiirs.—On the Use of Projectile Weapons by the Maoris. 59 
or is very soon brushed off by the bushes; but the iron barb and poisoned 
upper part of the wood remain in the wound. The poison used here, and 
called kombi, is obtained from a species of Strophenthus, and is very virulent.” 
** Another kind of poison was met with on Lake Nyassa which was said to 
be used exclusively for killing men. It was put on small wooden arrow- 
heads and carefully protected by a piece of maize leaf tied round it.” (The 
New Hebrideans wrap a piece of banana or other leaf round the heads of 
their poisoned arrows.) Further on (p. 556) Livingstone continues :—“ A 
bow is in use in the lower end of Lake Nyassa, but is more common in the 
Maravi country, from six to eight inches broad, which is intended to be used 
as a shield as well as a bow.” 
To what extent the bow was used in Madagascar, I cannot say, authori- 
ties being very slight. I shall be glad if any of my hearers can inform me. 
It is an interesting question, ** the Malagese (people of Madagascar) being 
a Malay people following Malay customs, some of them possessing Malay 
eyes and hair and features, and all of them speaking a Malay tongue at the 
present hour.’’* 
In South America the bow is used by the Antis Indians inhabiting the 
Bolivian Andes, who use the three-pronged arrow for fishing, like many 
tribes in the South Seas; the Pecheray Indians, inhabiting both shores of 
the Straits of Magellan ; the Tierra del Fuegians, whose bows and arrows 
were much admired by Cook; the Lenguas, a remnant of a great Indian 
nation; the Tobas, and other neighbouring tribes of the great Desert, who 
pieree the lobe of the ear and extend the orifice to an immense size for pur- 
poses of ornament, like numerous South Sea tribes under the equator, a 
custom which the Maoris still follow, (many black nations of the Nile 
pierce the lower lip for a similar purpose, and the Zambesi negroes pierce 
and extend the upper lip); the Payaguas, the warlike neighbours of the 
Paraguayan Republic ; and I believe also the Botoeudos of Brazil, who 
pierce both ear and lip, and enlarge each orifice. The tribes of Indians 
dwelling near the Amazon were also, I believe, accustomed to use the blow- 
gun and poisoned arrows for kiling game, exactly similar to those used in 
Malaysia. The tube was about ten feet in length, and the arrow fifteen to 
eighteen inches. 
Generally by the North American Indians, who found great use for the 
bow for all purposes of war and chase. The Iroquois, Sioux, Commanche, 
and Crow Indians, all used this weapon, and the Indians as far north as 
Queen Charlotte Sound. 
I can find no mention of its use among the Esquimaux, one of the most 
widely-spread nations of the world, inhabiting a coast-line of over five 
* Mullens’ ** Twelve Months in Madagascar,",p. 176. 
