1850.] 
BLOW-PIPE AND ARROWS. 
215 
diameter. They appear jointed outside, from the scars 
of the fallen leaves, but within have a soft pith, which, 
when cleared out, leaves a smooth, polished bore. My 
companion selected several of the straightest he could 
find, both of the smallest and largest diameter. iThese 
stems were carefully dried in the house, the pith cleared 
out with a long rod made of the wood of another palm, 
and the bore rubbed clean and polished with a little 
bunch of roots of a tree-fern, pulled backwards and for- 
wards through it. Two stems are selected of such a size, 
that the smaller can be pushed inside the larger; this 
is done, so that any curve in the one may counteract 
that in the other ; a conical wooden mouthpiece is then 
fitted on to one end, and sometimes the whole is spirally 
bound with the smooth, black, shining bark of a creeper. 
Arrows are made of the spinous processes of the Patawa 
{(Enocarpus Batawa) pointed, and anointed with poison, 
and with a little conical tuft of tree cotton (the silky 
covering of the seeds of a Bomhax) at the other end, to 
fill up exactly, but not tightly, the bore of the tube : 
these arrows are carribd in a wicker quiver, well covered 
with pitch at the lower part, so that it can be inverted 
in wet weather, to keep the arrows dry. The blow-pipes, 
or gravatanas, are the principal weapon here. Every 
Indian has one, and seldom goes into the forest, or on 
the rivers, without it. 
I soon found that the Cocks of the Rock, to obtain 
which was my chief object in coming here, were not to 
be found near the village. Their principal resort was the 
Serra de Cobati, or mountain before mentioned, situated 
some ten or twelve miles off in the forest, where I was 
