586 BURElAU OF AMERICAN ETHITOLOCIY [Bull. 137 



Speck had the following from his Yuchi informants: 



One form of the blowgun, which is obsolete now, was, according to memory, 

 made of a cane stalk with the pith removed. It was between five and a half 

 and six feet long. The darts were made of hard wood, the points being 

 charred and sharpened. A tuft of cotton wrapped about the end of the dart 

 like a wad formed the piston. This was almost exclusively used for bringing 

 down small animals, squirrels and birds. (Speck, 1909, p. 22.) 



His Taskigi Creek Indian stated that the blowgun (ivokko) 



was made of a cane stalk about as long as a man is tall. To remove the 

 pith it was sometimes necessary to section the cane, then bind it together again. 

 The darts were made of sharpened stems wound about one end with some soft 

 material, such as cotton, which acted as a piston. (Speck, 1907, p. 110.) 



Jackson Lewis described the Creek blowgun as having a length of 

 8 to 10 feet. The sections were cleared out by putting a slender rod 

 of iron inside and shaking it up and down. When it was in use, 

 the smaller end was thrown forward, the taper serving the purpose 

 of a chokebore. Blowgun arrows were made of slivers of cane or 

 of the "buckbush," which is said to be very much like Scotch heather, 

 and it was feathered with down from the bull thistle (Creek aga'djo) . 

 In later times it was feathered with cotton. The bull thistles, after 

 they had been collected, at the proper time of the year, were stuck 

 together in large circular masses, or, as I observed in another case, 

 were placed in a double row between two slender strips of wood. 

 When needed they were taken out, the seeds and dried flower ends 

 removed, and the down tied along the arrow shaft with the original 

 outer ends still outward. The cane shaft was made square, and 

 then wet in the mouth and heated over a candle flame, after which 

 it was twisted. This twist prevented the animal into which it was 

 shot from shaking it out. At least in later times, blowguns were 

 ornamented on the outside by wrapping a strip of cloth spirally 

 about them and putting them over the fire long enough to char the 

 exposed portion. When the cloth was removed the whole would be 

 ornamented with black and white spirals. My Alabama informant 

 said that his people treated the arrows in this manner instead of 

 the blowguns themselves. 



Speck (1938 a) has published a lengthy account of the method of 

 manufacture of the Catawba blowgun and the uses to which it was 

 put. He states that the ones seen by him ordinarily had a length 

 of 5 or 6 feet though some were as long as 8 feet and that, while 

 they could send darts 100 feet, they were not effective beyond 25 or 

 30. The Cherokee blowgun, on the other hand, was 9 or 10 feet long 

 and was effective at between 40 and 60 feet. The arrows were also 

 longer than those of the Catawba, and the all around workmanship 

 much better. Catawba blowgun darts were made of "oak, pine, or 

 cedar slivers," usually 8 to 10 inches long. W. J. Fewkes reported 

 locust, mulberry, and white oak among Cherokee materials. 



