MangoVine - Longhouse Visit Part 4 - How to Load Double Darts into a Blowdart Weapon

19 September, 2009
Saturday

During our stay in the (Malaysian Borneo) Annah Rais Longhouse, our host Mr. Edwards introduced us to his blowdart during his Educational Evening.

Blowdart-Edwards

It was a weapon we were looking forward to meeting and getting intimate with, although his authentic one was a couple of hundred years old and had, he insisted, killed people.

Blowdart-Edwards-Ryan

Watch the video below for his demonstration on loading and firing two darts from the blowdart - one straight after another.

We each got to have a go afterwards - with just a single dart at a time. Not surprisingly, it wasn't an easy device to master straight off, with blowing a consistent force being the main issue for all of us.

Blowdart-Linh

Though the dart blew through with wavering levels of accuracy, Mr. Edwards told us that he could hear air leaking when we blew. The trick was to keep our lips as close to the end as possible. Still, this was Linh's (lucky) result:

Blowdart-Board

The weapon itself was quite a sturdy, heavy pipe, especially considering that its held on one end to fire. Mr Edwards dropped another of his fun facts to mention that it could also fire as far as sixty feet.

After our encounter, I was tempted to get a collapsible blowdart set (the pipe was made up of connecting pieces) that the tourist shops back in Kuching sold, but thought better of trying to export a weapon, let alone an inferior one to the real thing.

Next: Longhouse Visit Part 5 - Musical Instrument

This entry posted in : Culture. Malaysian Borneo. Tourism.

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Longhouse Visit Part 4 - How to Load Double Darts into a Blowdart Weapon

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