NATIVE MARKSMEN. 149 



the Cobra di Capello, and other venomous snakes : 

 thus do these small and apparently insignificant 

 weapons become extremely formidable and de- 

 structive. 



I placed a white cloth, rolled up in the shape of 

 a ball, on some rocks at the distance of forty or fifty 

 yards, and proposed that these men should show me 

 with what precision they could direct their arrows 

 to the mark. Not appearing exactly to under- 

 stand my motives for making the proposition, they 

 did not at first evince much inclination to comply 

 with it, conceiving perhaps that the points of their 

 weapons might be injured to no useful purpose ; 

 but at length, comprehending my object, they care- 

 fully removed the barbed point, and proceeded to 

 display their skill as marksmen. There was no 

 cautious aiming ; but with a quick, playful sort 

 of a jerk, they sent their arrows, one after another, 

 in rapid success, on none of which fell very short 

 of the mark sufficiently showing me the extent of 

 their dexterity in the use of the bow. I noticed 

 that each carried a soft lump of the poison rolled 

 up in a piece of skin, which was placed in the 

 top of their quivers ; this they informed me was 

 rubbed on the point of their arrows just previously 

 to shooting. When they wound an antelope, it 

 generally bounds away with the arrow fixed in its 

 flesh, until it becomes " drunk" when it staggers 

 and falls ; upon which they immediately cut out the 



