Phillips. — 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 

 Qdlledikombi, is obtained from a species of Strophenthus, and is very virulent." 

 " Another kind of poison was met with on Lake Nyassa wliicli was said to 

 be used exchisively 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 Hebrideaus wi-aji 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 aU 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 

 pierce the lobe of the ear and extend the orifice to an immense size for pur- 

 poses of ornament, hke 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 Eepublic ; and I believe also the Botocudos 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 killing 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, aU 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. 



