ABBOTT COLLECTION FROM ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 485 



SIMPLE HOWS. 



The bows of the Jannvada trn)es. inhabiting Little Andaman. Rut- 

 land Island, iinda few other localities of the group, are simple in shape. 

 PI. Ill, fig. 1, shows a bow collected by Dr. Abbott at fiumila Creek, 

 Little Andaman, and lig. 5 is a bow used b}^ the Rutland Islanders. 

 Sometimes bows are made for children of the wood of a mangrove 

 {Brug uiera gymn orrh isa) . 



ARROWS. 



The arrows of the Andamanese consist of a shaft of dwarf bamboo 

 {Baiiihusa )iana) and a foreshaft. The latter may be simply of the 

 wood of a palm (Arfctt sp.) or mangrove, hardened by fire and left 

 blunt for practicing at a mark or sharpened. Wooden-pointed arrows 

 are used for shooting fish, and by the jungle tribes for other animals. 

 They are made in great numbers l)v these people and taken by them 

 to the coast and bartered for iron-pointed arrows, turtle oil, etc. 



Sometimes fish arrows are provided with two or more long, slender, 

 sharp wooden points. PI. Ill, fig. 2, shows a three-pointed fish arrow 

 collected by Dr. Abbott at Bumila Creek, Little Andaman: fig. -I is a 

 two-pointed arrow picked up by him on North Cinque, an islet on the 

 southwest coast of Rutland Island: fig. 8 is the simple wooden-pointed 

 arrow. The foreshafts of fish arrows are frequently iron-pointed. 

 The point ma}' consist of a piece of stout iron Avire or a nail sharpened 

 at each end, the proximal end extending obliquely backward to form a 

 barb, "boat-hook fashion," as seen in figs. 6 and 7, PI. Ill, or it may 

 be provided with a flattened iron head and barbs, as in fig. 12. The 

 string seizings attaching the head and barbs to the foreshaft are pro- 

 tected by a coating of red wax. In former times fish arrows were 

 often pointed with bone: the serrated bone from the tail of a sting-ray, 

 of such general use in Polynesia, was often used for this purpose. 



HARPOON ARROWS. 



These are arrows of which the foreshaft is detachable and is con- 

 nected with the shaft near the end of the latter by a stout, fiat lanyard 

 about 5 inches long, made of the fiber of Anodendro?i panicalatxim. 

 The foreshaft is provided with an iron head and one, two, or three 

 barbs (see PI. Ill, figs. 9, 10, and 11: also PI. IV). The seizings 

 attaching the head and the lanyard to the foreshaft are protected by a 

 smooth, solid coating of red wax. These harpoon arrows, called cla-da^ 

 are used for shooting pigs. The foreshaft is thrust into a socket at 

 the end of the shaft and twistecl until the lanyard forms a tight coil 

 about the upper part of the shaft. When aii animal is struck the barbs 

 of the arrow hold the head m ith the foreshaft attached firmly in the 

 flesh, the shaft is knocked loose as the animal rushes through the 



