One of the pastimes of the kids here is to make a bow and some little arrows and try to spear grasshoppers, or whatever they can find. I'm not sure what all the materials are that his equipment is made of, in fact, I'm not sure that I could make one, but it's pretty impressive to see him firing away at extremely small targets with impressive accuracy. The arrows that he's firing don't have any fletching on them, possibly because he's not shooting far enough for them to need it, and the arrows just have a sharpened tip on them, no stone or anything like that.
The skill of hitting what you're aiming at might mean the difference between you family getting some much needed protein or becoming malnourished, so while it looks like a game (and it is) it becomes much more serious when they become adults. In places there are lots of feral pigs in the bush. Perhaps they used to be domestic (like the Arkansas wild boars), perhaps not, but if you're talented enough to spear one of those there would be a feast for sure.
If you've never killed a hog before, I must warn you that they don't die easily. Even if you can get close enough to hit them, more often then not they keep running away with your arrow stuck to their side. And the possibilities of chasing a pig into a trap like on `Apocalypto`... well... good luck to you... Speaking of that movie, the guys here in PNG really get a kick out of it. At Kaiam we have a small 12V portable DVD player to watch movies at night. It's a great way to relax, and a fantastic addition to the house. What's interesting to note about most people here is that they are deathly afraid of snakes... Remember the part where the guy gets bitten when he's leaning against a tree? One of our guys jumped up and ran out of the house... Anton and I laughed about that for days! We're so mean... ;-)
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