Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

3o6 WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS part ii
Stretched far forward to support the shaft of the blow-
pipe (as it might be expected would be the case), it is
the mouthpiece itself that is held (firmly and in both
hands) immediately in front of the operator's mouth.
Blandas.—The Blandas (Langat) blowpipe is hardly
distinguishable from the Besisi weapon, and will be
described more fully under that head. The dart was
of the midrib of a fan-palm leaf (" serdang " or " kepau "),
its butt-end ("basong") of " akar menitan," and the
leaf carried inside the lid of the " tabong tela," or
" dart-quiver," as a squirrel-charm, was " salerik tupei."
The Spear.
Besisi.—The Besisi, like the Blandas, get their
spears from the Malays. A favourite form of spear
among the Besisi is the fish-spear, of which there are
several varieties ; most
of these types, however, have
been borrowed from the Malays, as was their Besisi
name " tiruk."
The Blowpipe.
The inner tube of the Besisi blowpipe is made
(as among all the tribes already referred to) from
a couple of internodes of the long -jointed bamboo
[Ba77ibusa Wrayi). The middle node having been
excised, the abutting ends of the two pieces are
brought together again, coated with a little resin to
make them adhere better, and spliced, as among the
Sakai of Perak, by means of a connecting cylinder or
jacket, which is fitted over their abutting ends.
One of these pieces of the blowpipe is invariably
longer than the other, and is called by the Besisi the
" man-piece," the shorter one being called the
" woman-piece," the Besisi women being, as a rule,