Weapons

Weapons were used for defense and hunting. Poison arrow tips were designed to come off the shaft and remain in the victim while the poison did it's thing. It required tracking for a while until the animal collapsed and the area around the arrow tip would be cut out. The bow is strung with sinew. The quiver is from rawhide, shaped and sewn while green. The spear head came on an eight foot shaft. My co-worker, Don, was trapped one day in our grass house by a green mamba and the only thing at hand was the spear. The shaft was too unwieldy with the low roof and all. He broke the shaft off over his knee to have a go at the snake. Don won and the snake lost but my spear was then only about three feet long. They also used a club called a rungu and a machete called a panga. There was a defensive system in the bush in which anyone in trouble could make this certain call and everyone else in hearing distance would repeat the call and head toward the sound with a weapon of some sort. So the call was spread far and wide and in several minutes the original caller would be surrounded with their homegrown "milita", armed to the teeth. Woo unto all who used the call for no reason. They may or may not be beaten senseless. Justice was swift and sure. Cattle theiving was a common concern.