Miscellanea Ethnograpliica. 



PART I. 



By N. Annandale, D.Sc. 



INTRODUCTION. 



It is proposed to issue, as a supplement to the Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal, a series of figures and brief descriptions of objects of ethnographical interest from 

 India and the neighbouring countries. The assistance of members of the Society is 

 invited, and the Anthropological Secretary will gladly receive for publication photo- 

 graphs, drawings and notes suitable for these " Miscellanea." The three plates issued 

 in the first part represent objects of which many are common in their proper locali- 

 ties. It is important for this very reason that an accurate record of them should be 

 preserved, as the changes which take place as regards the common implements, 

 weapons, apparatus and the like of more or less .primitive tribes, at the present day are 

 rapid and extensive. Not only are objects of local use and manufacture of ten of 

 ethnographical interest, but still more frequently they illustrate the history of civiliza- 

 tion in its mechanical and psychological aspects and render it possible to trace the path 

 whereby the material triumphs of certain forms of culture have been achieved. Very 

 little has been done in India as regards this branch of anthropology ; but it is hoped 

 that if members of the Asiatic Society who have the opportunities — and many such 

 there be — will give their assistance by supplying information and figures for publica- 

 tion, something may be done at any rate in furnishing materials for more detailed study, 

 and in preserving from oblivion interesting relics of the past which would otherwise 

 disappear without a trace. 



The Blow-Gun in Southern India. (Plate A.) — 



The blow-gun consists essentially of a hollow tube through which missiles are pro- 

 pelled by the human breath. Its simplest form is illustrated by the " pea-shooter " of 

 the English schoolboy ; but as a serious weapon or implement of the chase it is confined 

 to south-eastern Asia and South America. In Asia it is used by various primitive 

 tribes in Malaysia, from whom its use has spread to Southern India. Three main 

 types of construction can be recognized in Asiatic specimens ; (i) a bamboo tube 

 (generally double, i.e., one tube within another), used by the marjority of the jungle 

 tribes of the Malay Peninsula ; (2) a tube made of a cylinder of wood split longitu- 

 dinally, hollowed out, and then bound together again, used by certain Negrito tribes 

 in Pahang (Malaya) ; and (3) a tube hollowed out of hard wood. The last type, to 

 which one of the specimens figured belongs, reaches its highest perfection in North 

 Borneo. The blow-gun as a weapon is practically confined, in Asia, to Indonesian 

 tribes and to those to whom they have taught its use. Small poisoned darts are the 

 missiles commonly used. 



While visiting the subdivision of Ramanad in the coast of the Madura district of 



