134 
PHILIPPIKES. 
are good hunters, and have wonderful address in tbe use 
of the how. The children of both sexes, while their 
parents are in the woods, exercise themselvea on the 
banks of the streams with little bows and arrows. When 
a fish is perceived in the clear water, they discharge an 
arrow at it, and it very seldom happens that they miss 
their mark. 
" The weapons of the Ajetas are poisoned. A simple 
arrow does not make a wound of sufficient importance to 
arrest an animal, such as a deer, in its course ; but if 
the barb has been covered with the poisonous preparation 
known to them, the least scratch produces an inex- 
tinguishable thirst in the animal, and he dies the moment 
he has gratified it. The hunters then remove the flesh 
around the wound, and they can eat the remainder with 
impunity; but if they neglect this, the entire carcase 
acquires a flavour so bitter that even the Ajetas cannot 
eat it. 
The Ajeta has an incredible agility and address in all 
bis movements. He ascends the highest trees like the 
monkeys, seizing the trunk with both hands, and applying 
the soles of his feet. He runs like a deer when in the 
pursuit of large game, his favourite occupation. It is 
extremely curious to see these people departing on a 
hunting excursion; men, women, and children, all go 
together, like a troop of orang-outangs on a plundering 
expedition. They are always accompanied by one or two 
small dogs of a singular breed, which aid them in pur- 
suing the prey after it has been wounded."* 
* De k Gironierci " Sotivenira dc Jala Jalo," p. 204 ei seg. 
