Note 2 — K (Continued) (continued 3)

Concerning the use of a Malay blow-gun (glorified pea-shooter) by the Labbais of the Madura district, Dr. N. Annandale writes as follows.2 “While visiting the sub-division of Rāmnād in the coast of the Madura district in 1905, I heard that there were, among the Muhammadan people known locally as Lubbais or Labbis, certain men who made a livelihood by shooting pigeons with blow-guns. At Kilakarai, a port on the Gulf of Manaar, I was able to obtain a specimen, as well as particulars. According to my Labbi informants, the ‘guns’ are purchased by them in Singapore from Bugis traders, and brought to India. There is still a considerable trade, although diminished, between Kilakarai and the ports of Burma and the Straits Settlements. It is carried on entirely by Muhammadans in native sailing vessels, and a large proportion of the Musalmans of Kilakarai have visited Penang and Singapore. It is not difficult to find among them men who can speak Straits Malay. The local name for the blow-gun is senguttān, and is derived in popular etymology from the Tamil sen (above) and kutu (to stab). I have little doubt that it is really a corruption of the Malay name of the weapon—sumpitan. The blow-gun which I obtained measures 189.6 cm. in length: its external diameter at the breech is 30mm., and at the other extremity 24 mm. The diameter of the bore, however, is practically the same throughout, viz., 12 mm. Both ends are overlaid with tin, and the breech consists of a solid piece of tin turned on a lathe and pierced, the diameter of the aperture being the same as that of the bore. The solid tin measures 35 mm. in length, and is continuous with the foil which covers the base of the wooden tube. The tube itself is of very hard, heavy, dark wood, apparently that of a palm. It is smooth, polished and regular on its outer surface, and the bore is extremely true and even. At a distance of 126 mm. from the distal extremity, at the end of the foil which protects the tip of the weapon, a lump of mud is fixed on the tube as a ‘sight.’ The ornamentation of the weapon is characteristic, and shows that it must have been made in North Borneo. It consists of rings, leaf-shaped designs with an open centre, and longitudinal bars, all inlaid with tin. The missiles used at Kilakarai were not darts, but little pellets of soft clay worked with the fingers immediately before use. The use of pellets instead of darts is probably an Indian makeshift. Although a ‘sight’ is used in some Bornean blow-guns, I was told, probably correctly, that the lump of mud on the Kilakarai specimen had been added in India. I was told that it was the custom at Kilakarai to lengthen the tin breech of the ‘gun’ in accordance with the capacity of the owner’s lungs. He first tried the tube by blowing a pellet through it, and, if he felt he could blow through a longer tube, he added another piece of tin at the proximal end. The pellet is placed in the mouth, into which the butt of the tube is also introduced. The pellet is then worked into the tube with the tongue, and is propelled by a violent effort of the lungs. No wadding is used. Aim is rendered inaccurate, in the first place by the heaviness of the tube, and secondly by the unsuitable nature of the missile.” A toy blow-gun is also figured by Dr. Annandale, such as is used as a plaything by Labbai boys, and consisting of a hollow cane with a piece of tinned iron twisted round the butt, and fastened by soldering the two ends together. I have received from the Madura district a blowpipe consisting of a long black-japanned tin tube, like a billiard-cue case, with brass fittings and terminals.