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Mick,

We were careful when handling the arrows to hang them up!

The bushmen don't put poison on the arrow tip itself, as this would cause them to get in trouble if they are nicked by it. The poison (made from a special larva) covers the arrows shaft, just below the tip. Thus when they want to get an arrow out of the quiver, they turn the quiver upside down, holding their hands over the opening. The arrows slide and stop against their hand tip first. With no poison there, it's perfectly safe even if you're cut.

The whole hunting set (bow, arrows, quiver, knife, sack with with utensils including more dried up poison and various other things they use) came from an old bushman a bit away from Tsumkwe in Namibia, near the Botswana border.

I get a bit of a kick out of them being the genuine thing with poison and all, and know that his kit has been in use.

In fact, his hunting kit stunk so bad, and was so grimy, that we had to air it outside for over a month! We've become kind of picky when it comes to stuff being authentic, and I guess a little stench is what you sometimes have to put up with...

Erik D.

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