leaves, they inflict severe wounds on the bare feet of the _caboclos_,
and death follows within a short period.

The third trap, and the most ingenious of all, is the blow-gun
trap. One day the sub-Chief, a tall, gloomy-looking fellow, took me
to one of these traps and explained everything, till I had obtained
a thorough knowledge of the complicated apparatus. The blow-gun of
these Indians is supplied with a wide mouth-piece and requires but
slight air pressure to shoot the arrow at a considerable speed. In
the trap one is placed horizontally so as to point at a right angle
to the path leading to the _maloca_. At the "breech" of the gun is a
young sapling, severed five feet above the ground. To this is tied a
broad and straight bark-strip which, when the sapling is in its normal
vertical position, completely covers the mouth-piece. The gun was
not loaded on this occasion, as it had been accidentally discharged
the day before. To set the trap, a long, thin, and pliable climber,
which in these forests is so plentiful, is attached to the end of
the severed sapling, when this is bent to its extreme position
and is then led over branches, serving as pulleys, right across
the path and directly in front of the mouth of the blow-gun and
is tied to some small root covered with leaves. When the _caboclo_
passes along this path at night to raid the Indian _maloca,_ he must
sever this thin bushrope or climber, thereby releasing suddenly the
tension of the sapling. The bark-flap is drawn quickly up against
the mouth-piece with a slap that forces sufficient air into the gun
to eject the arrow. All this takes place in a fraction of a second;
a slight flapping sound is heard and the arrow lodges in the skin of
the unfortunate _caboclo_. He can never walk more than twenty yards,
for the poison rapidly paralyses his limbs. Death follows in less
than ten minutes.