Bow and Poisoned Arrows, 
335 
without a sound, so that the dead leaves under his feet hardly seem to 
move, and the European’s ear would try in vain to catch the fall of his 
footstep, the Indian glides along - until he finally reaches the tree ou 
which he hopes to find his prey. Nothing escapes his trained and sharp- 
ened senses, his ear is open to the slightest note, his eye to the almost 
unrecognisable variation in the foliage colour. Should the searching and 
the spying produce no results after a time, he imitates in a most striking 
fashion the call of the bird he wishes to capture, and so decoys it from 
tree to tree until within range, when as quick as thought the arrow is 
shot out of the gun and never misses its mark. But if, in spite of all his 
cunning, he should still get nothing, the residents do not see him return: 
he waits for the evening, sneaks in as if with an evil conscience, fails to 
exchange a word with his family, and but throws himself in his hammock, 
whereas next day perhaps, laden with spoil, lie will enter the village in 
arrogant and noisy delight. 
91G. When the Indian goes to hunt larger four-footed animals, he 
generally takes his bow (Urapa) and certain arrows ( Urari-Epou ) 
headed with a piece of hardwood, G inches long, which at its free end 
carries a one-inch deep square hole. The poisoned tip, that can easily be 
removed, is stuck into this. These arrows are also used in battle. While 
not in actual use the hunter covers his arrow with a piece of bambu to 
prevent accidents or stop the poison being washed off when rain sets in. He 
likewise carries at his side a hollowed-out piece of bambu-cane with cover, 
in -which are to be found the remaining poisoned tips, which are also cut 
across at different spots up to a third of their breadth and thickness so 
that, when an animal is shot, the arrow may break off by its own weight 
and not be broken in pieces by the wounded animal dragging it through 
the thicket in its race to death. 
917. Although it had not hitherto worried me, I found on my arrival 
at Nappi several of the villagers down with fever, an illness to which 
that particular woman had also apparently succumbed, and so the dis- 
cordant noise of the piai accordingly remained my evening lullaby. One 
of the symptoms that frequently accompanied the fever here was a 
violent dysentery that mostly brought the malady to a rapidly fatal 
issue. I was interested at seeing steam applied as a remedy in certain 
diseases at this settlement, for which purpose one placed beneath the ham- 
mock of the patient large vessels with water, into which were thrown 
glowing hot quartz-stones. Besides fever and dysentery there is in par- 
ticular another disease indigenous to the occupants of the plains who call 
it Viccis. It generally begins with slight fever that usually remains quite 
unnoticeable at first, but pains in the knees, heaviness of the limbs, and a 
constant inclination to sleep, are soon associated with it. Unless very 
prompt measures are applied by the commencement of this stage, a speedy 
death is the infallible result of the omission: the patient begins to be 
delirious — but in a strange way, this commonly assumes only a cheerful 
' aspect — and the muscular activity of his digestive organs becomes so 
relaxed that the motions ave passed involuntarily. Astringent decoctions 
