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.