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Originally Posted by KuKulzA28
I don't think Islam ever had a specific bow...
Are you referring to Arabian bows? Assyrian bows? Turko-Mongol bows? Javanese horn bows?
all these pre-dated Islam I think, but I think most bows used were of palmwood... it seems the Malay Archipelago picked up firearms pretty early on, but bows and javelins were still used for awhile. Maybe someone else can chime in with more information on specifically " Islamic Malay bows "...
but I was under the impression that the native arsenal perhaps got foreign influence (especially different sword designs) but that the bows themselves didn't drastically change because of Islam...
composite bows which were used in by Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Central Asian, and Indian Muslims didn't seem to be popular in the Malay Archipelago... moisture is high in the tropics and moisture kills composite bows.
Nothing wrong with palmwood longbows. Papuans used longbows too. So did South American natives. The English too used a longbow, but not made of palmwood or tropical hardwood - instead it was yew. African archers such as Hadzas and (maybe the Nubians) which are famed for their archery skill use longbows too.
I HAVE heard of Orang Laut using a pellet bow, which shoots small rocks instead of arrows... |
Bow & Arrow Malacca Sultanate era
The arms which they ordinarily use in warfare are the sword, shield, lance, bows and arrows, and blow-pipes with poisoned darts. At the present day, in consequence of intercourse with us, they use muskets and ordnance.
The sword, a blade measuring 5 palms in length, is called Padan (Pedang) among them : like the Turkish sword, it has a single edge. The dagger, called Cris a blade measuring 2 palms in length, is made of fine steel; it bears a deadly poison; the sheath is of wood., the hilt is of animals' horn, or of rare stone, or of gold and precious gems.
The steel is treated in such a way that every injury is followed by immediate death when the wound draws blood. Iron, being constituted of earthy material, and of a substance which is more malleable than other metals (as Aristotle notes Aleteorologica ch. 6. in 4 Meteorelogica, chapter 6) yields a large quantity of rust and dross. So the natives soak the iron in water and in muddy pools for some time : they then treat it in the fire, refining it till the iron is clean and pure - a method mentioned by Pliny in Book 34 chapter 14.
Then, after polishing the blade of steel, they smear it with a poison so deadly that death soon ensues after any injury which draws blood, wherever inflicted.
So these
Malayos (Melayu) use much poison on all their weapons, especially the points of arrows, whether made of iron or wood, or the teeth of animals or fish, or of " nyboes " ( ' nibong ' ).
Their bows are larger than the bows of Persia.
The lance called "azagaya " is 10 palms in length: these lances are much used as missiles.
There are other lances, as much as 25 palms long: besides a great number of " soligues " made of " nyboes '' and used as missiles.
Their artillery, as a rule, is not heavy : formerly they used mortars and swivel-guns made of various metals: to-day they employ larger pieces, and battery-cannon, besides many kinds of fire-arms, including small arms and arquebuses. Regarding the employment of artillery amongst the, Malayos, we know that on the conquest of Malaca in the year 1511, Affonco de Alboquerque captured much small artillery, esmerils, falconets, and medium-sized sakers : these could not have come from Meca in Arabia where they use larger pieces of the second order, such as battery-cannon: probably these came from Pegu and Syam, where they had an establishment for casting smaller artillery, of the first order, and a foundry for every other kind of metal-work; this thev had learnt from the Attayos and the Chinas, who first introduced artillery, which was invented after the rebellions against the Empire of Attay or Cattay.
Sources :
Manuel Godinho de Erédia
Manuel Godinho de Erédia (1563-1623), Malay-Portuguese author, was born in Malacca, on the Malayan Peninsula, on his father's side of Aragonese descent, while his mother was a Macassarese of good family, according to his own account a princess.