Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. VI SAVAGE MALAYS OF PAHANG 325
scribed in 7^/(3:^/,' whence the following description by the
present author has, with slight alteration, been drawn:
Mr. F. \V. Douglas, of the Malay States Service,
obtained this blowpipe on the east coast of the Malay
Peninsula in the Kuantan district of Pahang, during
October 1897, fi'oni a man belonging to one of the
jungle-tribes dwelling on the borders of Pahang and
Kemaman. Its measurements are as follows :
Total length (over-all) . . . 5 ft. 2 in. (157 cm.)
Interior diameter at mouthpiece ^^ in. (10.9 mm.)
Interior diameter at muzzle-end ^ in. (9.37 mm.)
Hence the bore of the tube at the muzzle-end is
a fraction less than it is at the mouthpiece, so that we
have here an instance of a wooden blowpipe imitating
the natural proportions that obtain in the original
bamboo blowpipe, from which it was copied ; for in
the bamboo blowpipe it is always the root-end which
is placed nearest the mouth, so that the bore at the
muzzle-end is generally a fraction less than at the
mouthpiece ;
in other words, this blowpipe, like its
bamboo original, has a slight " choke " in the bore.-
The illustrations here given are full-size. They
show the muzzle -end and the mouthpiece in two
positions, the mouthpiece having been chipped in
transit. I had it photographed to show the binding
before it was mended.''
This particular blowpipe is made of some very
hard wood, probably of " pcnaga " {Calopliyllum).
The cylinder is carefully split down the middle and
the two halves grooved on the inner side throughout
their entire length, so that when fitted together again
they form a perfect tube. This tube, which forms
' Skeat in Man, No. loS of 1902. - //;. 3 /^
—
—