Language: Dayak
Source: Pleyte, 1891
Description
Tepus is a Dayak blowgun dart in its simplest form, with a tip cut out of the shaft material.1
A Dayak blowgun dart of the tepus type.
The darkened area at the tip is poison.
Other varieties
Ladjau: with a brass tip
Tangiri: tipped with a separate piece of bamboo
Some have a tip made out of shark-tooth, a few of them have wing-like appendages along the shaft.2
Further reading
For more information, see the main glossary article: damek.
Notes
1. C.M. Pleyte; Sumpitan and bow in Indonesia. Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie. Band IV, Heft VI. Leiden. 1891. Pages 265-281.
2. Ibid.