Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

28o ]VEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS i'art ii
Semang, or Pangan, we know little more than what
is contained in the account given by De la Croix.
The Semang of Patani employ instead of the blow-
pipe an immense bow of about 6 to 7
ft. (1.8 m. to
2.1 m.) in length, which is made either of bamboo or
of ironwood, the bow-string being a cord of twisted
rattan.^ The arrow, which is 0.70 m. in length, is
made of bamboo, and carries at the butt-end a couple
of feathers, clipped and fitted to it longitudinally, and
at the point an iron blade sharpened and furnished
either with one or with two barbs."
These arrows, like the darts of the blowpipe, are
always poisoned with " Ipoh." ^
77ie Bloivpipe mid Darts.
Kedah Semang*. — In addition to their national
weapon, the bow, the Negritos also very frequently
make use of the bamboo blowpipe, which they have
undoubtedly borrowed from some of their wild neigh-
bours, either Sakai or Jakun.
The blowpipe has received but little elaboration
among the Semang. It consists of a long and delicate
inner tube (which is the actual blowpipe), protected
by an outer tube or casing, which serves the double
purpose of preserving the fragile inner tube from
damage and of keeping it from warping as the sap
dries out of it.^
' De M. (iii. 42) declares, and I Andaman Negritos (which difiFers widely
agree with him, that i)amboo is not from that used by the natives of Great
used f()r bows. It is too weak. If the Andaman); and that even the arrows
illustration given by De la Croix on p. (though the similarity is less marked
341 of the article here quoted be com- than in the case of the bow) neverpared
with those of Negrito bows in theless show a general resemblance.
Man's Audatiianese {yXdXQ VI. pp. 174, ^ jje ]a Croix, p. 331. ^ Ibid.
175). it ^^"ill be seen that this Semang * Cp. De Morgan, vii. 415, and
bowisexactlysimilarto that of the Little Begbie, pp. 5, 6.