BLOW-PIPE AND ARROW, a kind of weapon much used lay some of the Indian tribes' of South America, both in war and for killing game. It consists of a long straight - • in which a small poisoned arrow is placed, and forcibly expelled by the breatu. 'floc tube or blow-pipe. called graratdna pocoha, etc.. is 8 by 1:1 ft. long. the bore not pliers ally large enough to admit the lit de-tinger. II is made of reed or of the stem or 0 small, pains Near Para. it is in general very ingeniously and nicely made of two stems of a, palm (iriarka taligera, see Insattriss) of different diameters, the one fitted into the other, in order the betier to secure its perfect straightneSs. A stht is affixed to it near the end. The arrows used in that district are 15 to 18 in. long. made of the spines of another palm, sharply pointed, notched so as to break off in the wound, and their points covered with curari (q.v.) poison. A little soft down of the silk-cotton tree (q.v.) is twisted round each arrow, so as exactly to fit the tube. In Peru, arrows of only 11r. to 2 in. long are used, and a different kind of poison seems to be employed. An accidental wound from one of these poisoned arrows not unfrequently proves fatal. In the hand of a prac ticed the blow-pipe and arrow is a very' deadly weapon, and particularly when directed against birds sitting in the tops of high trees. As his weapon makes no noise, the hunter often empties his quiver before he gathers up the game, and does more execu tion than an English sportsman could with his double-barreled fowling-piece.
ELuCHElt, GEBHARD LEBERECITT YON, prince of Walilstadt, field-marshal of Prussia, was b. at Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, West Germany, 16th Dec., 1742. At the commencement of the seven years' war, he joined a regiment of Swedish hussars, and in his first action was taken prisoner by the Prussian hussars, whose col. persuaded him to exchange out of the service of Sweden into that of Prussia, and gave him a lieuten ancy. A lieut., Jitgersfeld, having been yromoted over B.'s head, be immediately wrote to Frederick the Great as follows: "Von Jitgersfeld, who has no merit except that of being son of the Markgraf of Schwedt, has been put over my head: I beg to request my discharge." The result was, that B. was put under arrest, and after repeated applications for discharge, he received from Frederick the curt intimation: "Copt. BIticher is at liberty to go to the devil!" B. went instead to Iris estate at Grossraddow, in Pomerania, and devoted himself to farming; hut he soon tired of a bueolie life. In 1793, having returned to the army, he fought, as col. of hussars, against the French on the Rhine, evincing great genius as a leader of cavalry. The breaking out of the war of '1806 led him, as lieut.gen., to the battle of Auerstadt. B., with the greater part of the cavalry, occupied the left flank of the prince of Ilobenlohe in the retreat of Pomerania. He is accused, on this occasion, of not giving the prince due support, and thus leading to the capitulation at Prenzlau. B. himself then marched into the territory of the free town of Lubeck, and hastily fortified the city; but the French took it by storm, and B. was forced to surrender at Batkow, near Lubeck, whither he had escaped with a few troopa. A fortnight after, he was exchanged for the French gen., 'Victor; and imme diately on his arrival in Kornrgsburg, was sent, at the head of a corps, by sea, to Swedish Pomerania, to assist in the defense of Stralsund. After the peace of Tilsit, he was employed in the war-department in Ktinigsburg and Berlin, and subsequently became commander in Pomerania. At a later period, he was pensioned, along with several other men of note, at the instance, it is said, of Napoleon. He was one of the few to combat the general belief in the invincibility of Napoleon, which had grown into a sort of fatalism in high places. In common with Stein and Hardenberg, he labored to remove all weak and unpatriotic counselors from the person of the king. When all the leaders of the army lost courage, his constancy revived confidence, and made him the center of all hope for the future. When the Prussians at last rose in opposition to France, B. was appointed
to the chief command of the Prussians and of gen. Winzingenxle's Russian corps At the battles of Ltitzen, Bautzcn, and Huynau, lie displayed heroic courage. At the Katz bach, he defeated marshal Macdonald, and cleared Silesia of the enemy. In vain did Napoleon himself attempt to stop the "old captain of hussars," as he culled him, in his victorious career. In the battle of Leipsic he won great advantage over marshal Mar mont at Mtickern, 16th Oct., 1813, and on the same day pressed on to the suburbs of Leipsic. On the 18th, in conjunction with the crown-prince of Sweden, he had a great share in the defeat of the French, and ou the 19th his troops were the first to enter Leipsie. B., in opposition to the policy in Austria, continually pressed the taking of Paris as the real aim of the war. On the 1st of Jan., 1814, he crossed the Rhine, garri soned Nancy on the 17th of the same month. and after winning the battle of La Rothiitre, pressed forward to Paris; but his scattered corps were routed by Napoleon, and lie fought his way back to Chalons with great loss. On the 9th Mar., however, he defeated Napoleon at Limn; and at the end of the month, after being joined by Schwarzcnberg and his corps: he again advanced towards Paris. The day at Montmartre crowned the brilliant deeds of this campaign, and, on the 31st Mar., B. entered the French capital. Frederick William III. created him prince of Wahlstadt, in remembrance of the victory at the Natzbach, and gave him an estate in Silesia. In England, whither he followed the allied sovereigns, he was received with an enthusiasm never before excited by a Ger man. The university of Oxford conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws. After Napoleon's return in 1815, B. once more assumed the general command, and promptly letiAlie army into the Netherlands. On the 16th June, 1815, he lost the battle of Ligny, in rhich he was personally in great danger, from his horse falling on him. The victory of the allies at the battle of Waterloo was completed by B.'s timely appearance on the field. B. ordered Iris Prussians to pursue the flying enemy, which they did the whole night. Declining the offered truce, B. marched again against Paris, and 011 the second taking of that city manifested a strong desire to retaliate on Paris the spoliation that other capitals had suffered at the hands of the French; but he was held in check by the duke of Wellington. In order to reward I3.'s services to Prussia and the common cause, Frederick William III. created a new order, the badge of which consisted of an iron cross surrounded by golden rays. On the 26th Aug., 1819, a colossal bronze statue was erected in his honor in his native town. B. died 12th Sept., 1819, after a short illness, at his estate of Krieblowitz, in Silesia. In Berlin, a statue twelve feet high, modeled by Rauch, and cast in bronze by Lequine and Reisinger, was erected to his memory, 18th June, 1826, and at Breslau another, also executed by Rauch, in 1827. In the beginning of the campaign of 1813, his characteristic activity and the style of his attacks gained him the nickname of "Marshal Forward" from the Russians; it'soon became his title of honor throughout Germany. His tactics were always much the same; to attack the enemy impetuously, then to retreat when the resistance offered was too great for his troops to overcome; to form again at a little distance, and watch narrowl• the move ments of the enemy, and whenever an advantage offered itself, to charge with lightning speed, and throw him into disorder, make a few hundred prisoners, and retire ere the opposing force had recovered from its surprise. Such were his maneuvers. 13., as it man and as a soldier, was rough and uncultivated, but energetic, open, and decided in character. his ardent enthusiasm for the liberation of Prussia and Germany from a foreign yoke, and his uncompromising pursuit of this noble aim, have j)ustly rendered him a hero in the eyes of the German people. The old red uniform. and the old name of " 1310cher's Hussars," were restored to the 5th regiment of hussars by Frederick Wil liam IV., on occasion of the centenary celebration of B.'s birthday.