RE: back from the amazone
Pics of the bows are up under "my new bows" thread.
Some info on the indian bows; the shape is similar to the trad long bow, one side flat and one side rounded. The indians use a the front teeth of the jawbone from peccari or wild pigs. String is twisted sisal handmade as well. Arrows are reeds and tips are hardwood which is really hard !!! I shot an arrow in the edges of a 2x4 beam holding the cardboard target we were aiming at and it went in deep !.
The feathers are held by cotton string and have a little twist at the end to get some spin.
The idian who helped us shoots a 9 out of 10 at any range out to 30 yards, hitting anything the size of an apple.
They have three standard arrowtips, one for fish, one for small birds and one for monkeys and pigs. They used to dip them in currare poison but nowadays the old .22 are more commonly used.
F.