Bow and Arrow

Bows and arrows are frequent but not universal. With some gaps in its distribution, the possession of the bow distinguishes the Melanesians from their neighbours to north, east, and south; yet without entitling us to speak of the bow as a characteristic of the Papuan race. The forms are like those of Eastern "Indonesia." They are long bows with strong, slightly bent, often fluted, staves of bamboo or palm-wood; the string of vegetable material, usually rattan, is firmly looped to the ornamental end, and fastened in New Guinea with a pad of rattan, in the Solomon Islands with resin. In New Ireland and New Caledonia bows and arrows are not in use; but in New Britain, Port Sulphur, the southern islands of the Solomon group, the New Hebrides, the Banks and Loyalty Islands, they are known, and in some parts are common. In the New Hebrides especially they are highly developed.

Bow from the Solomon Islands (Berlin Museum) [Click on picture for higher resolution]

The arrows of the Solomon Islanders are the finest of any. They are made of a reed, with a head of hard wood, either simply sharpened to a point or else artistically carved into barbs of wood, bone, or teeth, in imitation of the spear-heads. The shaft is decorated with elegant hatched work, put on so as artfully to indicate the knots in the reed. The place where head and shaft join is bound with bast, the point frequently covered with a yellow wrapping, it is said, to denote that it is poisoned. It is a curious instance of division of labour that all the beautifully wrought arrows of the Solomons are carried from the little island of Nissan in the extreme coast of the group, together with pigs, to Buka, and thence traded off for boats, arrows, and earthenware. In Ugi and Biu near San Christoval arrows are used having rings of palm-leaf at the butt-end of the shaft, and no notch to take the string. In the Admiralty Islands small arrow-like javelins are hurled with a thong. A Melanesian bow of uncertain origin in the Vienna Museum is bound with bast at both ends, to prevent the string from slipping; this being made of twisted liana and strengthened in the middle with bark. We are reminded of the rattan pads in New Guinea bows.

Bow and arrows from North-west New Guinea - Bow approx. 1900mm long (Christy Collection)
[Click on picture for higher resolution]

As a rule the arrow-head is smooth, but barbs are also met with; in fish-arrows as many as four. From this to fish-spears is a short step. Arrows with a shell for head are used in Malayta to stun birds. In the Banks Islands ornamental arrows serve as a medium of exchange. Somewhat exceptional is a quiver of bark and rattan-plait from New Guinea. Poisoning of arrows is believed to occur. In the New Hebrides cadaveric poisons and euphorbia juice are used, while in New Guinea the Hattams smear their arrow-heads with a dark brown vegetable poison called umla; which, however, must not be confused with the use of resin as a protective varnish for wooden arrows. Experiments with poisoned arrows have often failed to produce any result, and in many cases the "poisoning" must be regarded only as a magical rite. Deadly effects are also ascribed to arrow-heads of human bone, and orders for these articles are still given freely.

Arrow-heads from the Solomon Islands (Godeffroy Collection, Leipzig)

One of the appliances of archery in the New Hebrides is a wooden hand-guard some 5 inches broad. This is slipped over the wrist like a ring, and protects the hand from the recoil of the bow-string. The spiral liana bandages a foot long used in Buka, and the plaited "braces" covering half the forearm found on the Fly River, doubtless have the same purpose; while the braces and greaves of plaited bast in the Anchorite's Islands are as much ornamental as protective.