These balls appear to me to differ most essentially from the ordinary "sink-stones" found in Denmark and Ireland,[1] with which they have been compared. It is, however, by no means easy to suggest the purpose for which they were intended. The only suggestions that I have met with are, that they were used in some game or amusement; for defence when slung in a long thong or line[2]; as mace heads[3] attached to a handle; or else for purposes of divination.[4] I must confess that I hardly see in what manner the last purpose can have been served, especially as in most instances all the faces of the ball are alike. Nor do I see in what manner they can have been used in games, though of course it is possible that they were so employed. It seems more probable that they were intended for use in the chase or war, when attached to a thong, which the recesses between the circles seem well adapted to receive. Among savage nations of the present day we find the use of the bolas, or stones attached to the ends of thongs, over a great part of the southern continent of America:[5] while the principle is known to the Eskimos, whose strings of sinew, weighted with bunches of ivory knobs, are arranged to wind themselves round the bird at which they are thrown, in just the same way as the much stouter cords weighted at the ends with two or three heavy stone balls which form the bolas,[6] twist round, and hamper the movements of larger game.
The bolas proper, as in use on the Pampas, consist of three balls of stone, nearly the size of the fist, and covered with leather, which are attached to the ends of three thongs, all branching from a common centre. Leaden balls have now almost superseded those of stone. The hunter gives to the bolas a rotary motion, and can then throw them to a great distance, in such a manner that the thongs entwine round the legs, neck, and body of his prey and thus render it helpless, so that it can then be easily despatched. A bola of small size, but of lead or copper, with a single thong about 3 feet long, is also used, and forms both the sling and its stone. It likewise serves as a weapon for striking in close encounter. Among the Patagonians[7] the same two
- ↑ Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," fig. 87, 88.
- ↑ Report Montrose N. H. and Ant. Soc., 1868.
- ↑ P. S. A. S., vol. xi. p. 56.
- ↑ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 20.
- ↑ Tylor, "Early Hist. of Mank.," p. 179.
- ↑ Klemm, "Cultur-Gesch.," vol. ii. p. 17. "Azara," vol. ii. p. 46. Catlin'a "Last Rambles," p. 265. "Cult.-Wiss.," vol. i. p. 55.
- ↑ Lubbock, "Preh. Times," 4th ed., p. 547. Talkner's "Patagonia," p. 130. A set of these Patagonian bolas is engraved by the Rev. J. G. Wood, " Nat. Hist. of Man," vol. ii. p. 529.
