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Naturally enough, the tribesmen were hunters and fishers. The majority were given to paint their bodies and to pierce their ears, noses, and lower lips, in order to insert reeds, feathers, and similar savage ornaments. In the more tropical forest regions the blowpipe constituted one of the most formidable weapons.
"We have lost the bird, but we will try to find something instead," said Kallolo, giving me his blowpipe and bow to hold. He then climbed up the tree till he reached the bird's nest, from which he extracted two eggs, and brought them down safety.
This mixing chamber by which I am holding the torch, where the oxygen and acetylene mix, is also designed in such a way as to prevent a flash-back. The best thing about this style of blowpipe is the ease with which it can be transported and the curious uses like the present to which it can be put." He paused a moment to test the door. All was silence on the other side.
A blowpipe may also be used with good effect, as shown in the above engraving, and in many cases it is preferable and much easier to manage. In some cases the direct contact of the flame would spoil the articles to be heated, and instead of the arrangement mentioned, a tube of iron, fireclay, or other suitable material is heated, and the articles are passed through it.
You see we have, therefore, heat enough in the candle, as in the voltaic battery, or in the highly-exalted combustion of the blowpipe, but we do not supply a continuous source of heat. In the very act of this becoming ignited, the heat radiates so fast that you cannot accumulate enough to cause the fusion of the wire, except under the most careful arrangement.
It forms also the most valuable gems, as the oriental ruby and the topaz. The blue variety, or sapphire, is harder than the ruby. It is infusible before the blowpipe. It becomes electrical by rubbing, and retains its electricity for several hours; but does not become electrical by heating.
These resist all present efforts to decompose them, but how can one know what might not happen were they subjected to an influence, perhaps some day to be discovered, which exceeds the battery in power as the battery exceeds the blowpipe?
The fibers are very tightly packed together, as are also the groups; they are very tough individually, and have a hardness of 4, and a specific gravity of about 2.5. It gelatinizes on boiling with acid, and a fragment may be readily fused in the blowpipe flame, yielding a transparent globule.
It intumesces and readily fuses before the blowpipe, and dissolves in acid without gelatinizing. Hardness 4, specific gravity 2.2.
But if I tried this piece in the ordinary lamp flame, I should do nothing; if I tried a smaller piece, I should do little or nothing; and if I tried a still smaller piece, I should do little or nothing; yet I have a condition which will represent what Deville carries to the highest possible extent, and which we all carry to the highest extent, in the use of the blowpipe.
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