306 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



arrow-poison, as a strong narcotic, and is, probably, 

 rarely fatal, even when freshly applied. 



Fearing the action of the wind upon such light shafts 

 if unfledged, the archer inserts into the cloven end three 

 or four feathers, the cockfeather being as in Europe per- 

 pendicular when the arrow is nocked. The pile or iron 

 head is curiously and cruelly barbed with long waving 

 tails ; the neck is toothed and edged by dinting the iron 

 when hot with an axe, and it is sometimes half-sawed 

 that it may break before extraction. The East 

 Africans also have forkers or two-headed shafts, and 

 bird-bolts or blunt arrows tipped with some hard wood, 

 used when the weapon is likely to be lost. Before 

 loosing an arrow the archer throws into the air a 

 pinch of dust, not to find out the wind, but for good 

 luck, like the Tartars of Tibet before discharging their 

 guns. In battle the heavy-armed man holds his spear 

 and a sheaf of spare arrows in the bow-hand, whilst a 

 quiver slung to the left side contains reserve missiles, and 

 a little axe stuck in the right side of the girdle is ready 

 when the rest fail. The ronga or quiver is a bark-case, 

 neatly cut and stained. It is of two forms, full-length, 

 and provided with a cover for poisoned, and half-length 

 for unpoisoned, arrows. 



The rungu or knobkerry is the African club or mace ; 

 it extends from the Cape to the negroid and the Somal 

 tribes north of the equator. The shape varies in almost 

 every district : the head is long or round, oval or irre- 

 gular, and sometimes provided on one side with an edge ; 

 it is cut out of the hardest wood, and generally from one 

 piece. In some cases the knob is added to the handle, 

 and in others it is supplied with a spear-head. The handle 

 is generally two feet long, and it is cut thin enough to 

 make the weapon top-heavy. The Mnyamwezi is rarely 

 seen abroad without this weapon ; he uses it in the 



