Word: blowguns
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...them together again.” This violence is not just seen in authority figures, but is prevalent throughout Djata’s society. Gangs of kids with small grievances—a stolen ball, a lost bet—come after Djata and his friends with blowguns and knives. “The White King” presents a harrowing picture of what a society can teach a child. These kids simply follow the rules they are given; when Djata’s grandfather tells him to shoot a cat in the head, he unthinkingly does...
Even a poison secreted by South American frogs and used by tribes like the Piaroa to make deadly blowgun darts now serves as the basis for a morphine substitute being developed by Chicago-based drug giant Abbott Laboratories. "This is what I call the genetic patrimony of our indigenous peoples," says Venezuelan Science and Technology Vice Minister Marlene Yadira. "And if these communities disappear" because of their poverty, "who will be the source of this knowledge for the companies...
Still hedging their bets on that last question were the crowds at the Preparedness Expo at the Denver Merchandise Mart earlier this month, where several thousand attendants watched merchants demonstrate how to load a blowgun, use dryer lint to start a fire and cook an egg on a stick. Even survivalist stalwarts at the event were beginning to downplay fears that the Y2K computer bug will cause chaos come Jan. 1. "I don't think that the world is coming to a screeching halt," says renowned survivalist Bo Gritz. But in Paonia, Colo., Joy MacNulty, 69, isn't taking chances...
...Penan, an aboriginal tribe of hunters and gatherers on the island of Borneo, are a people under siege. They have watched in horror as logging companies inexorably cut down the forests that supply the tribe with food, medicines and even the poison for blowgun darts used to kill monkeys and hornbill. Outraged at seeing their way of life destroyed, the Penan have periodically blockaded roads leading into the forest in a losing effort to keep the loggers out. Says Penan headman Asik Nyelit, who has twice been arrested by Malaysian authorities for his role in the blockades: "If we just...
Throughout the developing nations there are encouraging stirrings of local environmental activity. In Malaysia blowgun-armed Penan tribesmen have joined forces with environmentalists in an effort to stop rampant logging. And in Brazil, which has some 500 conservation organizations, environmentalist Jose Pedro de Oliveira Costa organized a coalition of legislators, conservationists, industrialists and media barons to stir public support to preserve Brazil's remaining Atlantic forests. "The threats to the forests remain," said Costa, "but now at least there is a network in place to scream when a threat arises...