The small invisible bowhunters of the

rainforest.

Has anyone seen the Aka in the shade?

His arrow darts from a bow you havent seen

His arrow flies

It has flown

It has struck

It has killed

Listen: SWIIISH!

Already your foot is wearyYour eye doesnt see any more You have gone beyond

Aka chant as recorded by Reverend TRILLES ca. 1940 .

Small bowhunters are still living in little scattered groups in the midst of the African
equatorial rainforest. They are the Pygmies who bear different names according to
the localization of their habitat: Bongo and Baka in Gabon and south east Cameroon,
Aka (Babinga) along the Bangui river and its tributaries, in Cameroon, Congo and
Central African Republic, Twa and Cwa in Democratic Congo or Rwanda, and a
numerous ethnic family the Mbuti (Bambuti), around the Ituri forest in north east
Congo (RDC).

Pygmies have been at the origin of many myths and have caused an amazed
interest in generations of occidental populations, though they have been known
since the antiquity. They are already mentioned at the time of Pharaoh Peypi 3 rd (ca.
2200 bce) and are described by Homer and Herodotus. They may have migrated
from the plateau of Ethiopia where a few clans are still living. They may have been
scattered and driven by the Tall Black Africans into the heart of the large forests.
Nevertheless, all the groups seem to share a cultural common trunk, which is
expressed by their ability to thrive in dense jungle environment and particularly by an
inventive and environmentally adapted archery.

The size of their body (average 144 cm for an adult among the Aka) and their skill to
move silently among luxuriant vegetation, led the tall Bantu to believe they had a
trick to make themselves invisible. Actually some pygmies, themselves, indulge in
magical ceremonies to try to acquire this invisibility.

Figure 1: Greek painting depicting a fight between pygmies and cranes.

 Figure 2: French missionary pamphlet in the 1930's.

Nowadays, many of them have been drawn to villages or small cities, as they are often
employed by cocoa farms or timber companies, but a few still live according to the ancestral
way, gathering and hunting in small nomadic groups. As they do not practice metallurgy, they
barter wild game for iron tools or vegetables with the Bantu living on the outskirt of the
forest. The arrowheads they use come from these exchanges and are therefore very variable.

The Baka archery tackle.

 Figure 3: Baka bows, arrows and quiver. East Cameroon.

Baka hunters sometimes use very simple bows. On fig.3, the left bow (string length
59 cm.) is a simple strip of palm wood with a reed splice (4mm. wide) for a string. It
may have been a child bow, yet it allows a 20 cm. draw length and sends the small
arrows on the left at a distance of 15m. The middle bow has a round cross section
and seems to be simply made with a hardwood shoot. The string is 67 cm. long and is
made of twisted rawhide, it is blocked with an archers knot on one tip and an extra
length is wound around the other extremity, for reserve in case of rupture.. The bow
is decorated with triangular incisions and small glass beads on thin wire rings. This
type of bow has a specific use: it is meant to hunt the Sese bird (a sort of oversized
blackbird) with a tiny selfpointed wooden arrow (3rd from the left). The hunter
gathers several large fern fronds which he ties together in a crown. Hidden under this
sort of umbrella, he imitates the call of the male bird, sucking his tongue in a
repeated staccato. The bird thinking of an intrusion in its territory comes very close,
and is struck through by the small arrow.

The other arrows are fletched in a very simple manner, but very efficient and well
adapted to the environment. The proximal part of the shaft is carefully split, and a
tough leaf is inserted. Sometimes this leaf is reshaped in a triangle. This primitive
fletching gives the arrow an excellent flight as its size is adapted to the weight of the
arrowhead (arrows 1, 5, 6 &7 on fig.3).

The metal arrowheads can be very small and very clumsily made (1 & 2), or
diamond shaped and fixed with a tang on the shaft (6 & 7). They are secured by a
binding of vegetal ribbon. Other arrows show a selfwood point, hardened with fire. A
closer examination reveals that these points have been carved in a spiral to retain
poison. This poison is double and very powerful. It is partly extracted from the core of
a creeper root called Parquetina Nigrescens , which is a cardio toxic , the other part
comes from the grated bark of Strychno Camptoneura which is a curare and paralyzes
muscles. For big game hunting, this double poison is mixed with pimento or
euphorbia latex, both of these extracts acting as vasodilators and speeding up the
diffusion of the poison in the body. The carved points are smeared with the poison
then dried over a fire. Old photos show the hunters carrying their gear with
arrowheads prudently wrapped in leaves. Actually, a simple puncture of the skin may
be lethal and the poison remains active for many years.

As the Bantu populations (the Beti-Bulu-Fang group) in the same area, the Baka of
Gabon and Cameroon also use a crossbow. Some ethnologists tend to think that they
borrowed the idea from the first Portuguese merchants who landed on the coast of
Guinea, but the fact is not so obvious if one studies the Pygmy weapon.
 Figure 4: Pygmy hunters carrying poisoned arrows with leaf wrapping.

First, the bow is not a wooden or iron straight part kept bent by the string, but it is a piece
of rigid hardwood pre- carved into a crescent with a square cross-section and it can only be
bent in a limited way. This bow is inserted through a square hole provided in the distal part
of the stock, where it is blocked with a small wooden wedge. The stock is thin and very long
and is horizontally split on two thirds of its proximal length . The two halves obtained are
kept slightly apart, and a little peg is inserted, which goes through a small hole of the upper
part of the split stock. A dent is cut at the peg level. It holds the braced string. There is no nut
as in European crossbows: when the two halves of the stock are squeezed together, the little
peg is pushed up and triggers the string. The bow being quite stiff, this string can only be
pulled one or two inches or so. This requires very light darts which are nevertheless
propelled with great velocity.
 Figure 5: crossbow from Cameroon

The darts are an average 9 inches long (23 cm), 2/16th in diameter (4 mm) and weight about
1.5 grams each. They are made from a splice cut in a palm rib, and have a sharp self point. A
small triangle cut in a thick leaf is inserted in the shaft and acts as fletching. These little darts
can be shot efficiently at a distance of 15 metres, but they have to be poisoned, their mass
being not sufficient to ensure a lethal penetration. The poison is obtained from Strophantus
seeds mixed with animal feces. The usual game is birds, monkeys or even wild hogs.

Figure 6: crossbow darts.

The Aka hunting gear
The Aka pygmies live farther to the East, on a territory shared nowadays by Congo
Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, especially west of
the Lobaye a tributary to the Ubangi River. They use short bamboo bows (1 m.) having a
bamboo ribbon for a string, and rather long bamboo arrows with barbed iron heads.

Figure 7: Ubangi Aka arrows and quiver.

The Aka also frequently use a crossbow slightly different from the Gabon/Cameroon
crossbow. The stock is usually shorter and the triggering system includes an articulated lever
fixed by a wooden axis into the stock. The darts are the same and use the same poison as in
Cameroon. A little lump of wax is kept on the stock to stick the darts before shooting.

Figure 8: Aka crossbow and darts.

 Figure 9: triggering lever under an Aka crossbow.

Figure 10: carving of a crossbow bow with a machete. Aka, Lobaye River. Photo J L. Ludovic de Lys.

A few museums still have examples of a peculiar bow shot in old times by the Aka. Its a
short bow, made of rattan, bent in a semi-circular shape. It is often mistaken for a Congo
child bow. This bow was used with the same type of small darts as the crossbows, only longer
(the length of the archers forearm: elbow to finger tip). Lets notice a peculiar way to tie the
reed string: it is wound around one tip, goes through a hole in the bow from inside, goes
outside and over the tip to the other end, where a symmetrical binding is done.
 Figure 11: Babinga (Aka) small bow and darts. Collection: AMNH New-York 90.0. 8396.

The MButi and the Mangbetu.

The MButi are a large group of pygmies who live in or around the large Ituri forest, north
east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are nomadic hunters-gatherers and some
branches of this group are to be found as far as Rwanda. The Mangbetu are a very different
people. For one thing, they are not really pygmies. They have had intermarriage traditions
with the MButi, but they had built a powerful, highly civilized kingdom north of the Ituri
forest and as far as Uganda and Sudan. But we wish to associate them here with the MButi
because they have had frequent exchanges of technology and that their archery gears show
common points, if we except the arrowheads.
 Figure 12: M'Buti hunter and his bow.

The bows of both cultures are small, 45 cm. to 80 cm. They have a round cross section and
are made from a tree shoot cut when it is already bent. The bow tapers towards both ends
and about an inch (2.5 cm) from the tip a small wider ring is left to hold the string. This
string is a vegetal ribbon, a splice from a cane or a palm frond, and it is tied to the bow while
it is still green and supple, with a double knot at the lower tip and an archers knot, forming a
loop, at the top. Very often the top limb, sometimes both, is covered with hide, most of the
time a monkeys tail used as a sheath. This must have a magic purpose, the MButi aiming at
moving in the undergrowth as easily as the monkey. This animal is also a choice game, and
the pygmies often swing a fan made of large leaves, which imitates the sound of an eagles
wings. This makes the frightened monkeys climb down from the tall trees and come within
reach of the small bows.
 Figure 13: M'Buti bows and arrows.

MButi arrows are similar to the Bakas in their simplicity. An average length of 58 cm can
be noted. The metal arrowheads are bartered with the Tall Black villagers of the outskirt of
the forest, and in a single quiver differences in forging can be noted according to the original
ironsmiths. A typical hunters quiver, among those studied contains 27 arrows, the metal
blades being of three types: laurel leaf, diamond and spearhead. But all of them are fitted
with a tang, when the Bantu models are often forged with a socket, a more careful
fabrication. The shafts are made from a thin branch (round section) or the central stem of a
palm (trapezoidal section). They are not perfectly straightened, as long as the general line
from one end to the other is satisfactory, small bends at knots can be left. The tang of the
arrowhead is inserted in a slit cut in the distal end. The wooden shaft is then tightly bound
with a narrow and thin ribbon of vegetal fibers, the end of which is skillfully secured in the
slit itself. Palm wood shafts are bound with a small metallic ribbon. Other arrows dont have
a metal blade, but, as the Bakas arrows, have a fire hardened self point, which is incised in a
spiral and smeared with poison.
 Figure 14: M'Buti (8 on left) and Mangbetu (5 on right) arrowheads.

A slit is cut into the proximal end of the shaft, about 2 inches, 5 cm. from the tip, but
without splitting it. A leaf is inserted, usually dried flat and sometimes trimmed at the back.
This fletching is efficient for small distances (anyhow, in the dense vegetation, hunting range
doesnt exceed 10 m.) or to shoot up into the trees .As pygmies use the primary grip to shoot
an arrow, pinching the shaft between thumb and forefinger, the heel of their arrows is often
engraved with minute crisscross lines to ensure a stronger grip..The bow being fitted with a
splice for a string, a nock is not necessary.

The Mangbetu use several types of arrows, but the most remarkable one is a thin and very
straight projectile, about 48 cm. long, fitted with a tiny but very skillfully forged arrowhead.
These arrowheads have sometimes multiple barbs. They are always fixed to the shaft with a
socket. The shaft has a square cross section and tapers towards the point. A small double
leaf, cut into an oval shape is inserted in a slit, 10 cm. (4 ins.) from the proximal end. This
heel is also carved with lines for a better grip.
 Figure 15: fletchings.1 to 4 M'Buti, 5 to 9 Mangbetu..

This archery gear is very efficient in dense vegetation: the usual game consists of monkeys,
small antelopes, large rodents and a forest species of warthog. Long nets are often used to
close an angle in the forest and to quarter mammals. Forest elephants also used to be
hunted by the pygmies, but with lances, not bows and arrows.

Alain SUNYOL
Ethno-toxophilite
sun.mail@wanadoo.fr

. Except otherwise quoted, all items photographed are part of the authors collection.

Sources: Jean-Louis Ludovic de Lys, photo reporter : direct oral testimony.

Du Chaillu : Explorations & Aventure en Afrique quatoriale (1861)
Reverend Trilles: LAme du Pygme dAfrique. Ed du Cerf 1945
Demesse Lucien: Technique et Economie des Pygmes Babinga Institut dethnologie
Bahuchet Serge : Les Pygmes Aka et la Fort Centrafricaine .CNRS