Bolas

Bolas or bolases (singular bola; from Spanish and Portuguese ''bola'', "ball", also known as a ''boleadora'' or ''boleadeira'') is a type of throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, used to capture animals by entangling their legs. Bolas were most famously used by the gauchos, but have been found in excavations of Pre-Columbian settlements, especially in Patagonia, where indigenous peoples (particularly the Tehuelche) used them to catch 200-pound guanacos and rheas. The Mapuche and the Inca army used them in battle. Mapuche warriors used bolas in their confrontations with the Chilean Army during the Occupation of Araucanía (1861–1883).

Use

''Gauchos'' used ''boleadoras'' to capture running cattle or game. Depending on the exact design, the thrower grasps the ''boleadora'' by one of the weights or by the nexus of the cords. The thrower gives the balls momentum by swinging them and then releases the ''boleadora''. The weapon is usually used to entangle the animal's legs, but when thrown with enough force might even inflict damage (e.g. breaking a bone).

Traditionally, Inuit have used bolas to hunt birds, fouling the birds in air with the lines of the bola. ''People of a Feather'' showed Belcher Island Inuit using bolas to hunt eider ducks on the wing.

Design

There is no uniform design; most ''bolas'' have two or three balls, but there are versions of up to eight or nine. Some ''bolas'' have balls of equal weight, others vary the knot and cord. ''Gauchos'' use ''bolas'' made of braided leather cords with wooden balls or small leather sacks full of stones at the ends of the cords.

''Bolas'' can be named depending on the number of weights used:

* ''Perdida'' (one weight)
* ''Avestrucera'' or ''ñanducera'' (two weights, for rheas)
* ''Somai'' (two weights)Blair, Claude and Tarassuk, Leonid, eds. (1982). ''The Complete Encyclopedia of Arms and Weapons''. p. 92. Simon & Schuster. .
* ''Achico'' (three weights)
* ''Boleadora'' (three weights)
* ''Kiipooyaq'' (Inuit name for ''bolas'' with three or more weights)

''Bolas'' of three weights are usually designed with two shorter cords with heavier weights, and one longer cord with a light weight. The heavier weights fly at the front parallel to each other, hit either side of the legs, and the lighter weight goes around, wrapping up the legs.

Other unrelated versions include ''qilumitautit'', the ''bolas'' of the Inuit, made of sinew and bone weights and used to capture water birds.

See also

* Arctic yo-yo
* Bolas spiders, which swing a sticky web blob at the end of a web line to capture prey
* Bolo tie, a style of necktie resembling the bolas in that it has weights at the end of a string
* Lasso or lariat, a looped rope used for similar purposes, especially in North America
* Meteor hammer and meteor (juggling)
* ''Poi''
* Astrorope, a prototype of Crew Self Rescue (CSR) device for Extravehicular activity (EVA) in space flight – see Astronaut propulsion unit

References

External links

{{commonscat, Bolas

Boleadoras

Ancient weapons
Argentine folklore
Throwing weapons
Chain and rope throwing weapons
Chilean folklore
Culture in Rio Grande do Sul
Indigenous culture of the Southern Cone
Indigenous weapons of the Americas
Lithics
Uruguayan folklore
Hunting equipment
Gaucho culture
Primitive weapons