Blowgun

blowgun, hollow tube from which a dart or an arrow is blown by a person's breath. The arrow was usually tipped with a poison, such as curare, which would stun or kill the struck prey. Blowguns were widely used by prehistoric peoples. In modern times they are still employed in SE Asia and by some indigenous peoples of the Amazon and Guiana regions of N South America.

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blowgun

Long, narrow pipe through which darts or other projectiles are blown. Primarily a hunting weapon, it is rarely used in warfare. It has been used by aboriginal peoples in Malaysia and elsewhere in South Asia, southern India and Sri Lanka, Madagascar, northwestern South America, and Central America. Blowguns vary in length from 18 in. to more than 23 ft (45 cm to 7 m) and are often made of cane or bamboo. Darts are usually made of palm-leaf midribs or wood or bamboo splinters 1.5–40 in. (4–100 cm). The dart must fit the tube snugly, so that a puff of human breath will cause it to fly from the tube. To be effective against quarry larger than small birds, blowgun darts require poison.

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Blowgun 

an ancient weapon used for hunting (primarily birds) and sometimes for fighting. The blowgun is a tube measuring 1.5–3 m long, usually enclosed in another larger tube. Darts coated with a plant poison are ejected by the pressure of the air blown into the opposite end of the tube. The darts travel a distance of 30–40 m. Blowguns are still used in the inland regions of the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, in the tropical forests of the Malacca peninsula, and in South America. The blowgun was used more widely in the past; it was used, for example, by a number of tribes in the southeastern part of North America.