Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 1, 2025
It was for the purpose of making the tube perfectly straight, as this is a most important consideration in the gravatána. The outer and stronger stem corrected any bend that there might be in the inner one, and they were carefully arranged so that the one should straighten the other.
As a hunting instrument for most species of game the South American Indian prefers the gravatána to any other; and with good reason. Had Guapo been armed with a rifle or fowling-piece, he would have shot one macaw, or perhaps a pair, and then the rest would have uttered a tantalising scream, and winged their way out of his reach.
Our travellers would not have noticed their voices on this occasion, but that they seemed to be approaching in that direction; and as they were coming along the bank of the main river, Guapo concluded that on arriving at the "igaripe," they would turn up it and pass near where the balza was, and thus he might have them within reach of his gravatana.
To make the instrument look neater, Guapo had procured the tough shining bark of a creeping plant, which he wound spirally around the outside from the mouthpiece to the muzzle; and then the gravatána was finished. There was yet much to be done before it could be used.
He showed great forbearance in not having used the gravatána long before, for he was all the while quite within reach of the araguatoes; but this forbearance on his part was not of his own freewill. Don Pablo had, in fact, hindered him, in order that he and the others, should have an opportunity of witnessing the singular manoeuvres of the monkeys.
Of all these the juice of the Ambihuasca is the most powerful ingredient, but the making of this species of poison is a most complicated process. Guapo was not long in having an opportunity to test his gravatána, and this was just what he desired, for the old Indian was not a little vain of his skill, and he wished to make a show of it in the eyes of his companions.
The Indian, destitute of firearms, ranges through the forest in chase of the fiercest and largest animals which haunt its shade, armed with a slender tube, and a quiver full of needle-like arrows. The tube, ten or eleven feet long, is the celebrated gravatana, or blow-pipe; called also the zarabatana by the Spaniards.
Among most of the native tribes of South America, the young hunter who has killed a tapir is looked upon as having achieved something to be proud of. "The tapir is hunted by bow and arrow, or by the gun. Sometimes the `gravatana, or blow-tube, is employed, with its poisoned darts.
Before the scene was quite over, however, the Indian begged Don Pablo to let him shoot, reminding him how much they stood in need of a little "monkey-meat." This had the effect Guapo desired; the consent was given, and the gravatana was pointed diagonally upwards. Once more Guapo's cheeks were distended once more came the strong, quick puff and away went the arrow.
Another "hist!" another arrow! Hark! a well-known voice well-known voices the voices of Don Pablo and Guapo! See! they burst into the glade Don Pablo with his axe, and Guapo with his unerring gravatána! The puma turns to flee. He has already reached the border of the wood; he staggers the poison is doing its work.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking