Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/234

birds and other creatures brought down by a clay pellet blown from a glass sumpitan.

For twenty-five cents a glass tube, three or four feet long, can be purchased. With these tubes can be made the best of blowguns, but they are objectionable on account of being liable to break at any moment from some accidental blow or jar. With some flannel or woollen cloth and an old piece of cane fishing-pole a cover and a case can be made to enclose the glass and prevent its being broken by anything short of a severe knock or fall.

Select a good straight piece of glass tube about three or four feet long. To discover whether the glass tube is straight or not, hold it horizontally level with the eye and look through it, and any deviation will be quickly seen. Wrap the tube with strips of flannel or woollen cloth, as illustrated by Fig. 131, A. Image missingFig. 131..The Hunter's Blow-Gun. The cloth will make a soft covering or cushion for the outside of the glass and render it less liable to break. With a red-hot iron rod, or some similar instrument, enlarge the hollow in the centre of a piece of cane until the blow-gun can be slid inside the cane. With putty, shoemakers' wax or beeswax secure the tips of the tube in place. Trim off the ends of the cane until they are flush with the ends of the glass. You will then have a blow-gun that can be used to hunt with (B, Fig. 131). For missiles may be used arrows, tacks, peas, or clay. The arrows