Blow Gun Skill

 

 

 

Search  Inquiry Net

Back ] Home ] Up ] Next ]

How to Make
Blow Gun Skill
Blow Gun Parachutes
Blow Gun Targets
More Blowguns

Scout Books

Site Contents

By Dan Beard

I have seen some wonderful shooting with a putty-blower in New York City, and I recall one very amusing incident.  

I was returning from luncheon and had reached Broadway when my attention was attracted by a crowd.  I found a fakir in the middle of the crowd.  He opened his big mouth to shout his wares, then suddenly began to splutter, and finally spat a clay pellet out of his mouth.  After the pellet came emphatic words and phrases that amused the crowd, but did not tend to elevate their morals.  It was odd, and I laughed heartily, which so angered the fellow that he accused me of filling his mouth with mud. 

No one in the crowd knew what on earth was the matter with the man, or where the clay came from; many evidently thought it was part of the program.  At that moment I caught sight of the laughing countenance of Mr. W. Hamilton Gibson, the well-known artist,  in a window on the opposite side of the street.  Knowing him very well, it was not difficult for me to imagine where the clay came from.  As if for the purpose of dispelling all doubts in my mind, the mischievous fellow put a long glass tube to his mouth, and the next instant a piece of blue clay flattened itself on the fakir's hand.  The street peddler was now in a towering rage, and I saw that he was looking over the crowd for me.  Being peaceably inclined, I quietly left.

Great Skill with a Blowgun

Mr. Gibson, was exceedingly skilful with a blowgun.  Twice I have seen him, using a common glass blowgun, on the top of a five-story building, put a pellet into the mouth of a fakir on the sidewalk opposite.  His good marksmanship, you may be sure, kept the corners around that building clear of street fakirs.  

Years ago the Indians inhabiting the banks of the Mississippi River manufactured beautiful blowguns from the stalks of cane that grows in the cane-brake along the shore.  These toys were taken to New Orleans and other cities by the aborigines and sold to the boys.   Unless the art of making them has been preserved by the Negroes of that section there are probably none to be had now, but the long glass tubes, such as are used by the artist, and the common tin putty-shooter can be purchased.  

From the World's Fair I secured two beautiful blowguns made in Java, and a few split bamboo arrows.  Each of these arrows had a lump of loose raw cotton on the rear end, big enough to fill the blowgun so that it might be expelled by a smart puff of air from the marksman's lungs.  Anxious to see how they worked, I set up an old high hat and the first arrow pierced it to the cotton butt.  If you use arrows in the place of clay or putty, you can derive plenty of amusement and sport, and develop remarkable skill by shooting at a target.

OHB

 

 

   

 

 


Additional Information:

Peer- Level Topic Links:
How to Make ] [ Blow Gun Skill ] Blow Gun Parachutes ] Blow Gun Targets ] More Blowguns ]

Parent- Level Topic Links:
Boys' Ballista ] Blowguns ] Elder Guns ] Dogs ] Handle a Gun ] Lariat ] Spring Shot ] Tally-Ho ] Taxidermy ]

The Inquiry Net Main Topic Links:
 [Outdoor Skills]  [Patrol Method [Old-School]  [Adults [Advancement]  [Ideals]  [Leadership]  [Uniforms]

Search This Site:

Search Amazon.Com:

When you place an order with Amazon.Com using the search box below, a small referral fee is returned to The Inquiry Net to help defer the expense of keeping us online.  Thank you for your consideration!

Search:

Keywords:

Amazon Logo

 

 

Scout Books Trading Post

Dead Bugs, Blow Guns, Sharp Knives, & Snakes:
What More Could A Boy Want?

Old School Scouting:
What to Do, and How to Do It!

To Email me, replace "(at)" below with "@"
Rick(at)Kudu.Net

If you have questions about one of my 2,000 pages here, you must send me the "URL" of the page!
This "URL" is sometimes called the "Address" and it is usually found in a little box near the top of your screen.  Most URLs start with the letters "http://"

The Kudu Net is a backup "mirror" of The Inquiry Net.  

©2003, 2011 The Inquiry Net, http://inquiry.net  In addition to any Copyright still held by the original authors, the Scans, Optical Character Recognition, extensive Editing,  and HTML Coding on this Website are the property of the Webmaster.   My work may be used by individuals for non-commercial, non-web-based activities, such as Scouting, research, teaching, and personal use so long as this copyright statement and a URL to my material is included in the text
The purpose of this Website is to provide access  to hard to find, out-of-print documents.  Much of the content has been edited to be of practical use in today's world and is not intended as historical preservation.   I will be happy to provide scans of specific short passages in the original documents for people involved in academic research.  

 

Last modified: October 15, 2016.