Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

274 WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS part ii
(loi cm.), and its diameter two-fifths of an inch (i cm.).
The shaft was of bamboo, and the arrow was made on
the harpoon principle; that is to say, its head was fitted
into a short wooden socket-piece with a sharp upper
end which fitted into the hollow at the lower extremity
of the shaft or " stele," so that the head could be
drawn out without difficulty when required. The
head itself was of iron, and was thickly coated with a
dark brown (almost black) incrustation of Upas poison.
It had only a single barb, which before it was caked
over with the crust of poison must have been about
an inch in length, and had been fitted into the socket-
piece by a whipping of some strong but fine jungle-
fibre (probably the strong thread-like fibres of the
" langkap " palm, or some allied material). The
entire length of the head (including the socket-piece)
was 1 1 in, (28 cm.), and the latter was nicked all
round at the point where it joined the shaft.
At the butt-end of the shaft was the rounded nock,
about a fifth of an inch (5 mm.) deep, and just below
this nock was the outermost of the two fastenings of
the feathers, the precise object of which latter is not
very clear. The feathers used are those of the horn-
bill, and only two are used at a time. The quill
having been split, the feather is divided, half being
attached to one side of the shaft and half to the other,
by means of two lashings, one close to the nock (as
described) and the other about a quarter of the way
down the shaft, the exact length of the feathering being
8^ in. (204 mm,). But the extraordinary part about
the feathering of these arrows is that the web of each
* For a Semang quiver, v. UII. ii. could not be ascertained in the case
618. of these first two arrows, since the
- The exact method l)y which the juncture was entirely concealed by
head was fitted into the socket -piece the lashing.
^