Title Mota and Other Hunting Activities of the Mbuti Archers

16 Pages·2017·0.92 MB·English

TITLE:
Mota and Other Hunting Activities
of the Mbuti Archers: A Socio-
Ecological Study of Subsistence
Technology
AUTHOR(S):
TERASHIMA, Hideaki
CITATION:
TERASHIMA, Hideaki. Mota and Other Hunting Activities of the Mbuti Archers: A Socio-
Ecological Study of Subsistence Technology. African Study Monographs 1983, 3: 71-85
ISSUE DATE:
1983-03
URL:
https://doi.org/10.14989/67990
RIGHT:
Africa/lStlldy MO/lographs, 3: 71-85, t.rarch 1983 71
lv/OTA AND OTHER HUNTING ACTIVITIES OF THE
MBUTI ARCHERS:
A Socio-ecological Study of Subsistence Technology
Hideaki TERASHHvlA
DepartmentofSocialScience, Fukui Ulli,'ersity
ABSTRACT Sevcral methodsofbow-and-arrowhuntingoftheMbutiarchers in theIluriForestarc
describedandanalyzedinthispaper.Myobservationandtheliteratureindicatethatone typeofcollec
tivebow-and-arrowhunting, mota, which usesa beat-techniqueandaimsforduikersorachevrotain
occupiestheprincipal positionamongthevarioushuntingactivitiesofarchcrs. Bow-and-arr.whunt
inghasbeensofarconsideredfar lesseffectivethannethunting, butacomparison revealed that the
motahuntingor1II0t.i-likcbow-and-arrowhuntingisnotalways inferiorto net hunting in cffiC:ency.
Weshouldkeepthispointinmindwhenwccomparethesubsistenceecologyofarchersandthatofnet
hunters.
INTRODUCTION
The Mbuti hunter-gatherers in the Ituri Forest have been investigated intensively from
ecological and sociological points ofview. The investigations revealed many features which
characterize their subsistence ecology and social organization (Turnbull, 1965b: Harako,
1976, 1977: Tanno. 1976, 1980: Ichikawa. 1976. 1978; Hart. 1978). But as almost all the
investigations concentrated their attention on net hunters. our knowledge ofarchers is still
very limited. The study of Mbuti archers is important since their hunting styles seem to re
present theoriginaloneswhichhad beenadopted bythewholeMbuti beforetheintroduction
ofnet hunting. The l1et hunting is said to have started after the invasion ofthe Bantu agri
culturalists into the forest (Harako, 1976: 84-86).Also we can deepen our understandingor
net hunters as well as that ofarchers bycomparingthe two types ofhunters in subsistence
ecology,social organization. andsomeothercontexts.
From September 1978 to February 1979 I conducted socio-ecological research intosome
bands of Mbuti archers. The research. although it was a preliminary one. revealed some
interesting characteristics of the hunting activities and social organization of the archers.
In thispaperIshallconcentratemyattentionmainlyonthedescriptionand analysisofbow
and-arrow hunting ofthe archers, depending chieflyon the data that I gathered among the
archers wholivein Andiri Locality. Especiallythemethod,result,andeconomicsignificance
ofthecollectivc bow-and-arrow huntingcalledmotaare to beexamined in detail. Themota
is a principal hunting style among Andiri archers. 11 seems to have close connection witha
patternofbandorganization.Aftertheexaminationofthemota. Ishallmakesomecompari
sons between the net hunting and the mota hunting in method. result. and efficiency. This
will show some facts that suggest bow-and-arrow huntingis nor a means ofsubsistence in
ferior to the net hunting.
RESEARCH AREA AND THE MBUTI RESEARCHED
Ahalf-daywalk in the forest fromNduye. whichisoneoftheadministrativecentersofthe
Lese people, takes us to Andiri village which is located about 15 km northeast of Nduyc
72 H.TERASHIM<\
Fig. 1. The [luri Forest.
(Fig. I). Andiri is a small village oftheLese witha population ofabout 200.Thepathfrom
Nduye, passingAndiri,goes through theforest andleadsto asavarmawhichissaidtobethe
homeland ofAndiri villagers. In the forest there remain vestiges of desertcd villages from
place to place. telling us the history ofthe migration of the Lese people. Today there is no
villageintheforest beyondAndiri.
Five archer-bands were found around Andiri. I designatedeach ofthem BandAF. Band
AG, Band AI. BandAJ, and BandAK. There were totally 38 households, or 125people in
thosefivebands,notcountingthe temporalvisitors.Table Ishowsthemembership composi
tion ofeach band.
Every band except Band AG comprised a dominant patrilineal group and called by its
name. Forexample. BandAFwascomposcd often families, eight ofwhich belonged to the
patrilineal group callcd Andanji. So this band was simply called Andanji. Band AG was
composed of two bands formerly separated; so this band contained two main patrilineal
groups. This type ofbandcomposition, designated "dyadic band" byIchikawa(1978: 151).
is widc1y found among net hunters, too. A.s a general rule. the Mbuti observe patrilineal
group exogamy and patrilocal post-marital residence; thus a band becomes ideally patri
local onecomposedof patrilineallyrelatcd males and their families. Tilisisfairlyapplicable
to the Andiri archers. but it is also truc. as Ichikawa (1978: 149) has rightly pointed out.
Table1. Membershipcomposition oftheAndiriarcherbands.
Population Household*
Band Male Female Tala FuJI Half Total
AF 24 19 41 9 I 10
AG 16 15 31 10 2 12
AI 12 13 25 4 2 6
AJ II 8 19 4 2 6
AI( 5 4 9 3 I 4
Total 68 57 125 30 8 38
*Afull household .ncludesa man and hiswife.
A halfhousehold is the oneother than the full household.
HuntingActivitiesofthe Mbuti Archers 73
R.Andiri
AF·b AF-<:; AF'Q
Fig.2. Locationsofbasecamps and huntingcamps.
that the actual composition ofa band usually shows some deviation from the ideal model.
Iwilldeal with the structure ofarcherbands inanother paper. andhereIjustpointoutthat
Andiriarcherbandsarein nowayterritorialasTurnbull(1965b)affirms. Heinsistsrepeated
ly that IVIbuti bands. both the net hunters and thearchers, lack interest in kinship relation
ship and that they can be defined only through territory; but what he insists is definitely
unapplicable to Andiri archers.
From SeptembertoDecemberthe Mbutistayedmostofthe timeat the basecampswhich
weresituatedaround Andirivillage.Therethey spentmore timeinactivities concernedwith
village matters than in foraging for natural food. Theyfrequently helped Andiri villagers in
agricultural and other domesticactivities in exchange for food. At the end of January they
moved to the hunting camps deep in the forest and engaged in hunting actively. Figure 2
roughlyshowsthe locations ofthe basecamps and the huntingcampsthat I visited.
HUNTING ACTIVITIES
1. SpearHwlting
Andiri archers did two kinds of hunting: bow-and-arrow hunting and spear hunting.
Spearhuntingaimsat largeanimalssuchaselephantsand buffaloes. Somepartiesofhunters
wenlonaspearhuntingexcursion a coupleoftimes duringmystudyperiod, and oneofthe
parties was reported to have killed two elephants. The yield by spear hunting will be great
ifitsuccesses:but,asHarako(1976:56-57)says, spearhuntinginvolves suchgreat risk that
itcannotbean ordinaryhuntingmethodbutJUSIan occasionalone.Spearhuntingisusually
done in a group.
2. Individual Bow-and-arrow Hunting
Bow-and-arrow huntingcan be classified into two types: one type is done singly and the
other is done in a group. A hunter sometimes goes strolling in the forest with a bow and
arrows,usuallywithoutanyparticularpurpose, andhuntswhenevertheopportunitypresents
itself. Iron-tipped arrows are used for most terrestrial animals, and arrows withoutiron lips
are for arboreal species such as monkeys and squirrels. Non-iran-tipped arrows used for
monkeys are usually spreaded with poison. Iron-tipped arrows are collected after hunting,
but non-iran-tipped arrows are not.
Theydonotuse iron-tippedarrowsfor arborealspecies, not because, as Turnbull (1965b)
74 H.TERASHIMA
Fig.3. Mota hunting.
suggests, they think poisoned arrows are more efficacious than iron-tipped arrows, but be
cause. as Putnam (1948: 330) says. they fear to lose them. Turnbull (I965b: 153) writes:
"With a poisoned arrow even a light graze will bring down the quarry. whereas with the
metal-tipped arrow direct impact on a vital spot is essential." In order to maintain that the
Mbuti could live without depending on suchvillage products as metalworks he olTered this
opinion. but heapparentlyignores thereality.It isquitedoubtful that"even a lightgraze"of
poisoned arrowcancntail death to theanimal. Harakoexplicitlydoubts thewidespread idea
ofthe virulent effect ofthe Mbuti's poison and comments: "it is very rare that the animals
shot by poisoned arrows die instantly. I made experiments on rats with some poisonous
specimens Ibrought home. and no rat died quickly" (Harako, 1976: 63). Igot thesameim
pression. too. Atanyrate, the fact thatthe Mbuti, usingonlyiron-tippedarrows, donot use
poisoned ones for such terrestrial animals as duikers, which are very important species in
theirsubsistence,evidentlyshowstheiractual ideaon theeffectofthe poison.
The individual bow-and-arrowhunting is the basic pattern of the Mbuti hunting activity
(Harako. 1976). butitdoesnotseemeconomicallyimportantamongMbutiarchers.Although
some net hunters are reported to have done monkey-shooting by poisoned arrows actively.
archers are not active in this type ofhunting; they depend more on such group hunting as
11/otahunting(ibid.). Andiriarchersdid thistypeofhuntveryrarely.
3. Mota Hunting
Mota is a collective bow-and-arrow hunting using beat-method. A hunt party usually
consistsofmore thansixorsevenhuntersandmustbeaccompanied bya fewdogs that scour
thewoods for game.A wooden bel! istiedaround theneckofeachdog. the soundsofwhich
drive out 'lIlimals and inform hunters of the movement of the dogs. At a hunting ground.
hunters spread out in the woods making a loose enclosure formation (Fig. 3). Then dogs,
Tahle2. fllofll huntingamongAndiri 'jrchers.from October 1978 through February 1'>79.
Band Number
Band Popula- ofPar- 1·lours
Date (Camp) tion ticipants Hunting(from-to) Hunlingsite Calches Notes
----cc---~ ~=-':":"::-:-----:----"--------"-,-c---""---------:,---~.,,,----
1· 11/10/78 AF (AF-a) 30 7 2hOOm (II:00-13:(0) nearvillage porcupine hunted ina secondaryforest
2 16/12/78AG(AG-a) 23 8 3hOOm (12:00-15:00) ncarvillage chevrotain
3 17/12/78 AG(AG-a) 23 3 8h30m (08:10-16:40) far from village o
4· 20/12/78AG(AG-a) 23 II 5hl5m (10:00-15:15) ncarvillage °
5· 30/01/79AF (AF-b) 40 II 3h20m (II:20-14:40) nearcampAF-b elephantshrew porcupinetruckingwas done
ina secondary forcs!
6· 1/02/79AF (AF-b) 40 10 6hlOm (10:40-16:50) ncarcamp AF-d chcvrotain. bayduiker
7* 7/02/79AG(AG-b) 18 7 5h30m (12:00-17:30) ncarcampAG·b polio movingcampin themorning
8* 8/02/79AG(AG-b) 18 ') 8h50m (08:1Q.-17:00) fal" from camp 3chevrotains
AF-b
9 9/02/79 AG(AG-c) 19 9 2h30m (13:30-16:00) nearcampAG-c chevrotain movingcamp in themorning
10 10/02/79AG(AG-d) 25 10 4hOOm (12:00-16:00) nearcampAG-d chevrotain. bayduikcr movingcampin themorning
II 11/02/79AG (AG-e) 25 10 4hOOm (12:00-16:00) ncarcampAG-c 2chevrotains movingcamp in themorning
12· 12/02/79AG (AG-c) 25 10 8h40m (09:20-18:00) ncarcamp AG-e chevrotain,dark mongoose honeycollected en route
porcupine, Guinea-fowl
Note: Thecases marked by• indicatethat theauthor participated in the hunt, although he is notcounted in thenumberofparticipants.
-..
v,
76 H.TERASHIMA
runningto andfro in the woods, beingencouraged bytheshouts of a beater who takes up
his position inside of the formation, drive out game that are hiding there. When they are
accompanied by many dogs, more than one hunter take the part ofthe beater. Keeping the
fomlation, thehuntersadvance through thewoods in accord withthe movement ofthedogs
and beater. The hunters sometimes stop to listen for the sound of a quarry and ambush it.
When the dogs driveout a quarry, thehunters move rapidly and stealthilyto enclose it, and
shoot it when it comes sufficientlyclose to them. Hunters take freely many actions such as
ambushingand tracking to meet thesituation, When the quarry iskilled, thehunters gather
at thespotand butcherit. Afterthe butchering, theydistribute themeataccording tocertain
rules. Each hunter. wrappinghisportionofmeatin big Marantaceae plants. carriesitto the
camp. Duikers and chevrotains are the main objects of this hunl. Smaller animals such as
porcupines and mongooses are also hunted.
Table 2shows the data concerning the lIlota hunting obtained during my survey period.
Morehuntsweredone besidesthose listedupin the table, but they are omitted because their
data are incomplete. A hunting party was composed of hunter who belonged to the same
band, but it often involved visitors from other bands. Especially when they lived at base
camps,hunters frequently dropped in neighboringcamps and joinedfreely in lIlota hunting
ofotherbands.Theminimal numberofparticipantsinhuntingwasonlythreein Case 3. but
usuallyseven to ten peopleincludingjuniorhuntersof the age between ten andfifteen parti
cipated: the mean number ofparticipants was 8.4. Two hours were spent in huntingin the
shortestcase, and nearly nine hours inthe longest case. Itseems that the result of the llIota
huntinglargelydependson thedensity ofthegamein the huntingarea.Thatis. theyield was
Jowwhen theyhunted in the woods that was locatednear thevillage. while itwas relatively
highwhen theyhuntedfarawayfromthevillage. Theaverageweightofthemeat theygot by
ahuntwasabout4.5 kg(l) intheformercases(Cases I. 2, and4), and itwasabout17kg(l) in
the latercases(Cases3,and5-12).Chevrotainswerethemostnumerousgamehunted, prob
ably due to the fact that the river-sideplaces where chevrotains frequent wereoften chosen
as a hunting site.
4. Musilo Hunting
Afusiloisavariation ofthemotahuniing.Themethodandformation of1l11/siloare almost
thesameasthose ofmota. Thedifferencesliein the following points: 1)Theorganizationof
musilohuntinginvolvesall theneighboringbands. andconsequentlythenumberofthehunt
erswho takepartinitisfarlarger thaninmotahunting. 2) A fewwomenmustparticipatein
/Ill/silohuntingforsymbolicaltasks.
DuringmystayAndiriarchersdidmasilohunting three timesinDecember. Iobservedtwo
of them. Thedata collected then are shown in Table 3. Fromthe tablewecaneasilyseethe
cooperativeness of the ml/silo hunting. The number of participants amounted to thirty or
more.Itisremarkable thatevenseveralvillagersjoinedin thehunt.
Thepart women played in the hunt was symbolic and ritual rather than practical. Before
settingoutfor thehunt. a pre-huntritualwas performedbysomewomen ofthehost bandof
the hunt. In thisritual theysetfire tocertain herbsand othermaterialswhichhavesymbolic
meaningofagoodhunt. In theforesttheymadea huntingfireattherootofacertaintree be
fore the huntstarted. Duringthe hunt theysometimescut avineinto about one-meter-long
piece and shakedit strongly several times, sprinkling the forest with the water contained in
thatvine.Thewomenprogressedin accordwith themalehuntteam,oftenoccupyingtherear
part ofthe formation. Theysangsongsorshouted something occasionally, butmostof the
time continued their march in silence. They never took the lead in beatinggame. whiehwas
HuntingActivitiesofthc Mbuti Archers 77
Table3. MI/silo Hunting.
Date 14Dec. '78 19Dec. '78 21 Dec. '78
Host Band Band AG BandAF BandAG
Hunting Hours 10hours 9hours
from 8:00a.m. 8:30a.m.
to 18:00 17:30
HuntingSit~ nearR. Nduyc nearAF-d near R. Ndyue
Catches Bayduikcr Blueduiker Bayduiker
Gabonduiker Pygmyantelope Blueduiker
Chevrota:n
NumberofParticipants 30 33
Compositionofthe Member males: males:
7from AF 7from AF
11 from AG 11 from AG
3from AI 3 from AI
I from AJ 4 from AJ
females: 3from AG females: 2from AG
children·: 2 children*: 2
villagers: 3 villagers:4
• under IO-year-old.
thebusiness ofthe men and dogs. Considering thesmallnumber ofthewomen-participants.
evidently theywere notexpected to be practicalhunters.
As Ihave alreadystated. most Mburistayed at thebasecampsinDecember.Thiswas the
timeoftheyearwhenthecontactseitherbetweentheMbutibandsorbetweenthe Mbutiand
villagersbecamemostactiveandclose.The11/11silohuntingtookplaceinafestive atmosphere
ratherthan in needofsubsistence. The Mbuti said that theydid the 1I1usilohuntingin order
togetmeatforthecelebrationofthenewyear. Besides this apparent purpose, however. there
seemstobeanotherimplicitpurpose.that is, tostrengthen thecooperativeandfriendlysocial
relationshipbetweentheneighboringbands.And theparticipationofthevillagersin thishunt
indicated theclosesocio-economical relationshipbet\veen the Mbuti and the Lese people. I
cannot make sufficient references to their relationship in this paper, but I do not think that
Turnbulrsviewontheirrelationship(Turnbull. 1965b).whichseemstobe discussed toosim
plyand one-sidedly. isapplicable to the inter-ethnicsituation inAndiri.
5. Mota and AIl/silo in Literature on Anthropology
Althoughdescriptionsofthe hunting activitiesofthe Mbuti archers in literature arevery
limited,someofthemcanbeveryusefullycomparedwithwhatIobservedand greatlyhelpful
for gaining a better understanding of the characteristics of the Mbuti archer's subsistence
technology.
Wecan find the description ofmota hunting by Schebesta (cited inTurnbull. 1965a) and
Harako (1976). Schebesta's observation of the mota huntingcorresponds with my observa
tion excepta few points. Iquote here its digest offered byTurnbull (ibid.): 'The dailyhunt,
however, is the track hunt(...motel)inwhich the male membersofthelocal group takepart.
Fiveorsixmengooutwhenthe sun is high...accompanied byhuntingdogs. Schebestamen
tions a hunt leader...who gives the signal for departure and follows the dog. guided bythe
soundofitswooden bell.Heshoutsencouragementto thedog.and theothertrackers.guided
bythesesounds,spreadoutoneithersideofthehuntleader. When thedogputsup game. the
huntersallstand rigid. bows flexing, readytoshoot ifthe animal passestheirway.'" There
wardsofthistypeofhuntarevaried.Agroupoffiveorsixhuntersmaybeabletobringback
anantelopeeachday,ormayfailcompletelyfordaysonend."AlthoughtheresultofthemOla
78 H.TERASHlMA
hunting is onlyvaguelyshown, we can infer itseconomic significance from the fact that the
mota huntingwas a "dailyhunt'· conducted by the activemale members ofthelocal group.
"Theoldermannolongerabletotrackgamesuccessfully"(ibid.) useanothermethodsuchas
ambushingwhichwill bedescribed in thenextsubsection.
Harako'Sdescription on the mota huntingconducted by thearcherswho livednearLolwa
village fairly corresponds with what I observed and also with Schebesta's observation. He
writes: .. "Mota' iscollectivehuntingusuallydone bymorethan ten archers....Archerstake
theirpositionsencirclingasectionoftheforest. A dogwitha wooden bell...sometimesaided
byitsownerandseveralboys,runsabout in theencircledareaand drives thegameoutofthe
bush. Archers shootthe game as it rushes out" (Harako. 1976: 54), and "occasionally only
fiveor six archers attempt the 'mota' hunting method. but since the encircling formation
isincomplete, archers must be preparednot onlytoambush the game, butto takeanyadded
measure[trackingandsoon]needed"Ubid.).Andyet,hisstatementthat"inacomparisonwith
net hunting, wecould say that the archersandbows and arrows correspond to the catchers
andnets.whiledogscorrespond tobeaters"(ibid.)seemsmisleading.Althoughitmayberight
figuratively, thereare bigpractical differences between thenet huntingandthe1110tahunting.
Forexample, the mota huntingisa dynamic huntingwhere huntersare always in movement
alternatingtrackingandambushing, advancingandawaiting; while thenethunting is a stat
ichuntingwhere hunters onlyact in theencirclementmade ofnets. The differences between
themotahuntingandthenethuntingwillbefurtherdiscussedinthenextsection.
ThemotahuntingisamajorhuntingactivityinLolwaarchers togetherwiththeebakahunt
ing,whichIwilldescribein thenextsubsection.Theydidtheebakahuntingearlyinthemorn
ingorduringtheevening. and thelIlotahlmtingduringthedaytime(Harako,1976).Theyare
basicallyduikerhuntersdependingonmotaandebaka, although theyconductspearhunting
activelyaimingforbiggame(ibid.).
Besidesthe Mbuti, wecan find otherpeoplewho conductlIlota-like huntingin forest habi
tat: theBabalinegroes(Schebesta. 1936)and the BoycJa(Sato. (980). for instance.Although
theBoyela are primarilyshiftingagriculturalistslivingin the midst oftheCongoBasin,they
activelydo various hunting. The huntingmethod used by the Boyelahave manysimilarities
withthose used bythe Mbuti.Especiallyonetypeofbow-and-arrowhuntingcalledfuembais
verysimilar in structure to 11/ota, showingclearly the dynamicstructurewhichcharacterizes
mota. Let mecite itfrom Sato(1980):
Morethansevenoreighthuntersparticipateinfuemba.... Huntersoncegatheratacertainspotin the
forestandtheretheyarrangetheroutetheywilltake,andassignworktoeachhunter.Afterperforming
aritualforgood luck theysetoutfor ahUllt. Hunters. spacingaboutten tofifteen meter;fromeach
other, moveahead ina bag-likeformation, the front partofwhich is widelyopen.Dogsand beaters
(ikongi)that takes up theirpositionsat thebothsidesoftheopeningofthe formation drive outani
mals.Andifananimalisdrivenoutanclgoesinsidetheformation,themanwhofirstsawtheanimaltells
theothersthekindofitbyawhistle.The'l thepeoplecalledichul1du,whowalkjustbehind thebeaters.
takeas,viftmovetoclosetheopeningoftheformation,andalltheothersalsomovetoenclosethegame
tightly.Then theyshootlikula(iron-tippedarrows) orlokare (iron-tippedarrowsspreadedwithpoi
son).Enclosedanimals are not alwayscaught; theyescapefrom theenclosuremoreoften.... Whether
theyhitananimalornot,theyswiftlybuildlipaformationagain,andresumethemarch. Atthattime
themencalledI(va,whotakeuptheirpositionsattherearpartoftheformation, give hunters instruc
tionson howtoreconstructthe formation, on thedirection theywill tak·~, and onthepace,heymust
keep....Smallandmiddle-sizedduikerssuchas blueduikerandPeter'sduikerarethemainobjectsof
luemba. [Translation is mine.]
Althoughsome details may be ditferent. it is clear that the principal patterns of fuel1lba and
1II0ta are the same. Particularly the flexible formation and the dynamic movement pattern
characterizefuelllba as\vellas mota. giving them greater mobility that is notprovided in net
HuntingActivitiesofthe Mbuti Archers 79
hunting,mdallowingthemtocoverfarlargerareas inaday'shunt than net huntingdoes.The
fact that themota-like huntingmethod iswidelyadopted byforest peoplesuggests theeffec
tiveness ofthis type ofhunting.
I wasunabletofind the nameofmllsilo in theliterature, butbegbe described bySchebesta
(cited in Turnbull, 1965a), Turnbull (1965b), and Harako (1976) seems to correspond to
milsi/o. Most oftheir descriptions ofthe begbe hunting agree with 1/I1lsifo on the following
points: 1)Thebegbehuntingisalargecooperativebow-and-arrowhunting usingbeat-techni
que: usuallypeoplefrom morethanonebandparticipate. 2)Women mustparticipate. 3)The
seaSOnwhenbegbeispracticedislimited.4)Thebegbehuntingseemstobemoreimportantin
sociologicalcontextthanineconomiccontext.Besidesthesepoints, Schebestagivesadescrip
tiononthepre-hunt ritual performedbythehuntingleaders,andHarako notesthefestiveat
mospherein the hunt.
One difference between begbe and 11lIlSi/O is as follows: while in /Illisilo women do only a
symbolicwork. inbegbe they aresaid to do practical workjust like in net hunting. Harako
andTurnbull"Tite:"...[inbegbe]womenandchildrenattendasbeaters,takingthesamefor
mationas innethunting"(Harako, 1976:54); "Thebegbeis remarkably like the net-huntin
teclmique and in social function. The major difference is the absence of net..... (Turnbull,
1965b:162).ThisdifferencemayberelatedtothediO'erenceofthenumberofthewomenwho
participateinhunting,but1cannotsuggestthisideawithcertaintysinceTurnbullandHarako
supply no specificfigures ofbegbehunting. Both Turnbull and Harako do notseem to have
madefirsthand observation on the begbehuntingfor themselves. For Turnbull(1965b: 105)
writes that he has neverseen any archers in begbe beat-huntingcamp. and Harako'ssurvey
period of Lolwa archers did not include the season when the begbe hunting takes place
(Harako. 1976:38).Although1donotmeantodenytheirdescription. thereseemstobesome
possibilitythattheyofferedsuch description ofbegbe because they thought too much ofthe
similaritybetweennet huntingand the begbehunting(Turnbull. 1965b: 162; Harako, 1976:
54). At any rate, we cannotelaborate thecomparison until we get more data of the begbe
huntingas well as ofthe IIll/silo hunting.
It is strange that Turnbull has made no references to the lIlota hunting wlule mentioning
thebegbehuntingreiteratively. ItisnotcertainwhetheritisbecausethelIlotahuntingwasnot
knowntothearchershevisited,orsimplybecausehemissedit.1thinkthelatterismOrelikely,
since it seems unlikely that the hunters who customarilypractices the begbe huntingdo not
know the lIlota hunting at all.
6. OtherTypes ofBow-and-arrow Huntingin Literature
1) Small game tracking with a dog: Harako (1976) describes that when the numbers of
huntersare not enough to do /llOta,they often resort torunningafterthegamewithadogin
thelead.Animalsaimedforinthishuntingaresmallonessuchasmongooses,porcupines,and
Guineafowls, whichdogscantracktosomeextentbythemselves.Turnbull(1965b) and Hart
(1978)mentionthistypeofhuntingbriefly.Andiriarcherssometimesdidthis type ofhunting
duringthemorahuntingwhen theyfound porcupinesen route. Although this typeorhunting
is common among Mbuti archers, the result is limited since the objects ofthis hunting are
usually small.
2) Ambushing: Two types ofambush hunting in Mbuti archers have been reported. One is
the ebaka hunting [mentioned earlier, Aecoring to Harako(1976). ebakaisa foothold built
upon a branchofa tree: itisset on a placewhereananimal trail passesby and where trees
bearingfruit that luresduikersarcfound ncarby.Ahunterwaitsforduikerspassingbelowon
the tree.Tllishuntingmethod takesadvantageofthefeedingbehavioroftheuuikers. andoc-