s about 11 ft. and its weight 1-1/2 lb. The
arrows, which are from 12 to 18 in. long and very slender, are made of
ribs of the cocorite palm-leaf. They are usually feathered with a tuft
of wild cotton, but some have in place of the cotton a thin strip of
bark curled into a cone, which, when the shooter blows into the
_pucuna_, expands and completely fills the tube, thus avoiding windage.
Another kind of arrow is furnished with fibres of bark fixed along the
shaft, imparting a rotary motion to the missile, a primitive example of
the theory of the rifle. The arrows used in Peru are only a few inches
long and as thin as fine knitting-needles. All South American blow-gun
arrows are steeped in poison. The natives shoot very accurately with the
_pucuna_ at distances up to 50 or 60 yds.

The blow-gun of the Borneo Dyaks, called _sumpitan_, is from 6 to 7 ft.
long and made of ironwood. The bore, of 1/2 in., is made with a long
pointed piece of iron. At the muzzle a small iron hook is affixed, to
serve as a sight, as well as a spear-head like a bayonet and for the
same purpose. The arrows used with the _sumpitan_ are about 10 in. long,
pointed with fish-teeth, and feathered with pith. They are also
envenomed with poison.

Poisoned arrows are also used by the natives of the Philippine island of
Mindanao, whose blow-pipes, from 3 to 4 ft. long and made of bamboo, are
often richly ornamented and even jewelled.

The principle of the blow-gun is, of course, the same as that of the
common "pea-shooter."

See _Sport with Rod and Gun in American Woods and Waters_, by A.M.
Mayer, vol. ii. (Edinburgh, 1884); _Wanderings in South America_, &c.,
by Charles Waterton (London, 1828); _The Head Hunters of Borneo_, by
Carl Bock (London, 1881).

BLOWITZ, HENRI GEORGES STEPHAN ADOLPHE DE (1825-1903), Anglo-French
journalist, was born, according to the account given in his memoirs, at
his father's chateau in Bohemia on the 28th of December 1825. At the age
of fifteen he left home, and travelled over Europe for some years in
company with a young professor of philology, acquiring a thorough
knowledge of French, German and Italian and a mixed general education.
The finances of his family becoming straitened, young Blowitz was on the
point of starting to seek his fortune in America, when he became
acquainted in Paris with M. de Falloux, minister of public instruction,
who appointed him professor of foreign languages at the Tours Lyce