248 



G. A. T. VAN DER SANDE. 



Unstringing the bow the action is reversed. When not in use the bow is always 

 unstrung, the bowstaff nearly being straight, and the string, suspended over the top end, is 

 lower down, fixed by a hitch of rattan. With one bow of the collection (N°. 1247) the lower 

 loop has another rattan strip, for the said purpose. 



Spare strings, as carried to the number of one (N°. 1246) or two (N°. 1247), are 

 also suspended with the upper loop over the top end, as shown in fig. 156; with N°. 1242 



however, it is simply tied along the 

 front side. A bowstring has always an 

 unvarying length ; an arrangement, as 

 indicated by Parkinson [1900, 28] of 

 the Berlin Harbour district, where a 

 strained string can be strained still 

 further as may be desired and then 

 simply remains caught between a ring, 

 is unknown on Netherlands territory. 

 The three bamboo bow s 

 (N os . 1246 — 48) are ail smaller (on an 

 average 1.69 M.), than the smallest of 

 the palm wood spécimens. The front 

 side is, by the natural shape of the 

 bamboo, concave in the transverse; — 

 Von Luschan (Krieger [1899, 457, 

 fig. 9]) gives of children's bamboo 

 bows of Sekâr a biconvex section. On 

 the back the naturally smooth outside surface has been retained and on the frontside, parts 

 of the partitions of the nodes, 4 — 6 in number, hâve been left. Both the conical extremities 

 hâve a sudden broadening, against which the loops of the bowstring are supported. It is a 

 rule (see also HADDON [1890, 330]), that the lower end of the bamboo forms the upper arm 

 of the bow, and this part is generally more ornamented by superficial carvings than the 

 lower arm. The cassowary claw, stuck loosely on to the upper end, according to DE Clercq 

 and SCHMELTZ [1893, 137], produces a vibrating noise, pleasing to the Papuan ear, when the 

 arrow is quitted. 



The right to cafry bow and arrow is only obtained when the young man is received 

 amongst the fighting men ; in H. B. after leaving the temple, at Tumleo (ERDWEG [19O2, 326]) 

 after the ceremony of putting on the stiff bark girdle. The bow is always carried un-bent 

 and with it a bundle of 8 — 12 assorted arrows, kept together by a rattan or bark strip. 

 When a Papuan happened to pay a visit to our camp, with his bow strung, Mr. DUMAS used 

 at once to eut the string, and the visitor always understood the lesson in good-behaviour 

 given in this manner. 



Regarding the handling of bow and arrow, especially the so-called a r ro w-release, 

 the opinions of différent authors do not fully agrée. According to my observations, the arrow 

 is usually held between the thumb and (the i st or 2 n<i phalange of) the forefinger, while this finger, 

 bent below the arrow, draws the string, together with the other three. This position, to be 



154. Stiinging the bows; Humboldt Bay. 



