|
The first measurement references the total length of the arrow, the
second describes the head length from the end of the shaft. Objects are described from left to right.
1. is made of hardwood that has been blackened to look like blackpalm. This is usually accomplished by burying the head in swamp mud. The head is mostly square in cross section apart from the round hilt. It has been painted with yellow ochre under the barbs, which number forty-eight
(see detail). (131.5/46 cm).
2. is cruciform in cross section, each set of barbs alternating at right angles with the next set
(see detail). The head is of blackpalm and has thirty barbs. (128.5/40 cm).
3. is of the same design, but there is a longer space between each set of barbs, and they are cut off square at the front, not at an angle. (125.5/38 cm).
4. has a cruciform element of the same basic design as 2 and 3 in the center of the head between the sets of small barbs in a square cross section. This is a common design called namakoko or cognates thereof in many Eastern Highlands languages. (126.5/42.5 cm).
5. is an example of the tatai, the classic fighting arrow of the Tairora speakers from south of Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands, who were renowned fighters amongst warrior peoples. The Tairora made tatai in large quantities, often in arrow-making bees involving most of the men of a village. They were made in sets of similar length and weight-the largest set I collected in the southern Tairora numbered twenty-eight. Consistency of length and weight in arrows gives rise to a desirable consistency of shooting at the longer ranges. The tatai was not unique to the Tairora, being used by the other Kainantu peoples, each with its own name.
The four-sided head of the tatai is of blackpalm with small teeth at intervals down each corner. An elegant characteristic of the barbing on most tatai is that on two opposing sides at the top there will be, for example, five teeth and at the bottom, three. On the other opposing sides, this numbering will be reversed-three teeth at the top and five at the bottom. Orchid fiber is wrapped around the arrowhead from the point to the beginning of the barbs and around the head where it joins the shaft. This appears decorative but the real aim is to leave orchid fiber in the wound to fester. Another characteristic of the tatai is that the skin of the reed shaft is not all scraped off as is normal for Eastern Highland arrows. About twelve to eighteen centimeters of the yellow skin is left on the shaft, with narrow longitudinal strips cut into it. (127/43 cm).
6. from the McWilliam Collection, is a characteristic Kainantu type not found elsewhere, made of hardwood of a rounded triangular cross section. It can be seen that the head twists-the stated intention of the twist is that the arrow screws into the wound, making its extraction particularly difficult. It has twenty-nine barbs, fourteen on the right side and fifteen on the left. It is a particularly fine example of the type. (119.5/34 cm).
7. is a kamakoko from the Auyana. It is of blackpalm that is square in cross section at the tip, where the small barbs are located, and cruciform in the center of the head where the four long barbs are placed
(see detail). The hilt is round. It has forty barbs in all. (128.5/40 cm).
8. is a common design in the Eastern Highlands. The blackpalm head is square in cross section, and it has sixty small-tooth barbs separated by collars of plaited orchid fiber
(see detail). (121.5/40 cm).
9. is a blackpalm-headed arrow from the McWilliam Collection with twelve long, fine barbs cut close to the head. It is roughly semicircular in cross section. It is a splendid example of its type. (131/53 cm).
10. is another common design with six barbs in a blackpalm head of a rounded, flattened triangular cross section. This is called an asena (Agarabi language) or a cognate in most Eastern Highland languages. (128/41.5 cm).
|
