Mentawai bow, arrows and quiver.
 

Here's a Mentawai bow, arrows and quiver, dating from the mid-1990s. The guy I bought it from told me he had been travelling with his girlfriend in Sumatra in 1996 when they took a ferry to Siberut, with no idea what they would find there. They ended up staying with a Mentawai family for a couple of weeks and shared their plentiful supply of cigarettes with them. When they were leaving, their host took his bow and arrows and gave it to them, in thanks for all the cigarettes they'd shared and left behind. I didn't stop to ask why he had chosen to sell such a wonderful gift for so little.

The bow is about 66 inches long and is light and slim, seeming to be made from the traditional palm wood. The wooden arrow tips are all wound with a very fine thread and one of them has some white substance on it. Would this be poison and does anyone know how long such poisons retain their efficacy? The blunt arrow has the same length shaft as the others, but the blunt tip is much shorter and one of the arrows has a thin metal tip which looks like copper. The bow string looks like it's made in the traditional way from tree bark and the quiver is also made in the traditional way, from bamboo covered in sago leaf with a coarse braided rope for carrying.

Wonderful ethnographic item! When you ever want to part with it....
I don't think that the white stuff is poison.
Thanks for sharing! :cool:

Regards,
Detlef

Lovely piece and great story.

Detlef, Thanks for your comments and reassuring words regarding the white stuff. I'll continue to handle the arrows with great care.

Thanks for the comment, Ian. It's nice to have at least one thing in my collection that I know to be a product of great generosity, rather than spoils of war/conquest, which I assume to be more common.

Hi Dave,

Would fit well with my Mentawai shield! :D:D

Best regards,
Detlef

Hi Detlef,

They certainly would, and it's very kind of you to offer the shield, but it would be wrong of me to accept. I'm sure you'd miss it from your collection. :D:D

Best,

Dave

Hi Dave,

This wasn't an offer! :D I like to keep my shield, it just came to my mind because Mentawai items are seldom seen.

Best regards,
Detlef

Hi Detlef,

I was just joking. I realise you wouldn't want to part with your splendid shield, in fact It was the thread about your shield a couple of months ago that made me think about sharing the pictures of the bow. I should have referenced your thread in my introduction, so here it is now: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30271
I do agree that it would go very well with the bow and arrows. It would be a special combination. If I ever decide to part with them I promise you'll be the first to know.

Best,

Dave

Hi Dave,

Also when your bow and arrows are not particularly old they are very nice ethnographic items, keep the well! ;)
And thank you for thinking of me when you may be willing to part with them one day!

Best regards,
Detlef

Indigenous communities are often very generous. Over the years, spending time in villages, after expressing interest and appreciation of their traditionally made tools, I have been gifted or inexpensively sold amazing pieces.Sadly, these skills are fading quickly.