Whistling Arrows

Last week, while screaming bombs were falling on London, C. Martin Wilbur, curator of Chinese archeology & ethnology at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, called attention to his exhibit of Chinese whistling arrows. They were used by Manchu bodyguards to frighten people off the streets when the emperor rode by. The large, blunt whistle head kept them from being dangerous.

Probably the earliest reference to whistling arrows credits their use to a Hsiung Nu, Mongolian prince, Maotun (200 B.C.), who used them to train his followers to loyalty. Whenever he shot his screamer at something, attendants were to follow up, shoot to kill. Those who hesitated were executed. Methodically working up from his favorite horse to his favorite concubine, he finally aimed his plaything at his father, went on to found the powerful Hsiung Nu dynasty.

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