bolas

• Name — Bolas • Origin — The Americas • Type — Throwing weapon Bolas or bolases (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.[1] Mapuche warriors used bolas in their confrontations with the Chilean Army during the Occupation of Araucanía (1861–1883).[2]

• Illustration — River Plate Indians with bolas (Hendrick Ottsen, 1603) 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 can even inflict injury (e.g., by breaking a bone). Traditionally, Inuit have used bolas to hunt birds, fowling 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.[3]

• Illustration — Boleadoras There is no uniform design; most bolas have two or three balls, but there are versions of up to eight or nine. Some, but not all, bolas have balls of equal weight; some 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)[4] • Achico (three weights) • Boleadora (three weights) • Kiipooyaq (Inuit name for bolas with three or more weights[5][6]) 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. • Illustration — Puelche warriors using bolas in the 19th century • Illustration — A group of gauchos hunting rheas with bolas in La Pampa, Argentina, 1905. Other unrelated versions include qilumitautit, the bolas of the Inuit, made of sinew and bone weights and used to capture water birds.[7]

These were captured alive by means of a lasso or bolas but only available for the nobility.