S O O L O O. 385 



ing it which renders it unnecessary for them to look to a foreign 

 supply ; the only articles of foreign hardware that they are said to 

 desire, are razors, out of which to make their cockspurs. One 

 thing seems strange, although asserted upon good authority, that 

 the iron and steel of the coast are thought to be superior by fo- 

 reigners, they are not to be compared with that which is found in 

 the interior, and manufactured by the Dyacks. All the best krises 

 used by the Malay rajahs and chiefs, are obtained from the interior. 

 Some of these are exquisitely manufactured, and so hard that, with- 

 out turning the edge, they cut ordinary wrought iron and steel. 



Among their other weapons is the sumpit, a hollow tube, through 

 which they blow poisoned arrows. The latter are of various kinds, 

 and those used in war are dipped in the sap of what the natives term 

 the "upo." The effect of this poison is almost instantaneous, and 

 destroys life in four or five minutes. Those who have seen a wound 

 given accidentally, describe the changes that the poison occasions as 

 plainly perceptible in its progress. Before using the arrow, its poisoned 

 point is dipped in lime-juice to quicken it. The range of the sumpit 

 is from fifty to sixty yards. Although the arrows are poisoned, yet 

 it is said they sometimes eat the game they kill with them, parboiling 

 it before it is roasted, which is thought to extract the poison. Fire- 

 arms, respecting which they have much fear, have not yet been intro- 

 duced among them : indeed, it is said that so easily are they intimi- 

 dated by such weapons, that on hearing a report of a gun they 

 invariably run away. Each individual in a host would be impressed 

 with the belief that he was the one that was to be shot. 



They address their prayers to the maker of the world, whom they 

 call Dewatta, and this is all the religion they have. There are many 

 animals and birds held by them in high veneration, and they are close 

 observers of the flight of birds, from which they draw prognostics. 

 There is in particular a white-headed eagle or kite, upon whose flight 

 and cries they put great reliance, and consult them in war or on any 

 particular expedition. For this purpose they draw numbers of them 

 together, and feed them by scattering rice about. It is said their 

 priests consult their entrails also on particular occasions, to endeavour 

 to look into future events. 



In the performance of their engagements and oaths, they are most 

 scrupulous. They seem to have some idea of a future life, and that 

 on the road to their elysium they have to pass over a long tree, which 

 requires the assistance of all those they have slain in this world. 



vol. v. 97 



