Manufacture of Weapons from Wood - Spears

Thrusting-spears seem to have been formerly regarded by the Polynesians as their chief weapon. They were sometimes made of wood with the point hardened in the fire; sometimes strengthened with stone blades, the tail-spine of the sting-ray, splinters of bone, or sharks' teeth. For a long time they were twice the height of a man; where casuarina wood was lacking coco-palm was used. Spears were given away with great reluctance; they were wrought and adorned and ornamented with special care.

Spears were equally the chief weapons of the Micronesians; they were armed with barbs made of sting-ray spines, human bones, the snout of the garfish, or sharks' teeth, but they are never so artistic as in Melanesia. These weapons serve for thrusting at close quarters : shorter spears sharpened at both ends were used for throwing; a spear thrower of bamboo is recorded from Pelew. Purely wood weapons include the sword of the Pelew Islanders, and the pahu, or dagger of hard wood, in Yap of reed, 20 inches or rather more in length, spatula-shaped in the handle, and gradually tapering, thence carried in a sheath of vegetable fibres; angular stone blades from 8 to 16 inches long afforded ponderous hand weapons.

Clubs

Next to the spear the chief weapon is the club, generally made from heavy iron-wood. Its ornamentation makes it an interesting production of Polynesian art. It formed the main strength of the Tongans, the most beautifully executed type being the paddle shape, which appears to have become obsolete even in Cook's time, round in the handle, flattened above, often brought into a four-cornered shape by the strong accentuation of the middle rib, and either cut off square at the end or running out in an elliptical point.

The whole club from the handle to the point is covered with carving, which either passes round in one spiral band, or forms a series of chequers divided by the side edges and the middle ribs, or else laid over and over each other simple cross bands. The ornaments consist of straight or zig-zag lines drawn close together, a roughly indicated human form being nearly always present. Stars and Crescents often appear as well as figures of fishes and tortoises. They have a shank to hang them up by.

Beside these richly carved clubs smooth ones are also found quite flat, paddle-shaped, with a ring below the blade, and others of a simple mallet-shape with short handle. "Paddles of honour" is a name given to paddle-shaped objects 6 feet long and more, either carved in cross bands like the clubs, or sculptured in a fashion which reminds one of elegantly chipped flint instruments. The Marquesas Islanders are distinguished in the manufacture of these beautiful clubs; the blade of their paddle-shaped clubs, like almost every production of their artistic dexterity, contains a fantastically executed human countenance. But the most beautiful paddle-shaped clubs were certainly made by the Hervey Islanders, who exaggerated the delicate cell-carving of the Tongans to the verge of the finikin. The Tahitians and the most closely allied tribes devoted much trouble to the polishing of their weapons.

The axes of the Hervey Islanders with perforated handles, or the over-elegant clubs of the Tongans, were obviously designed in the first instance as insignia of rank, and can only exceptionally have been used in fighting. The ceremonial axes of Rarotonga and Tahiti may also have been originally to some extent in use, and have been, with their symbolically worked handles, preserved after the owner's death as a memorial.

Spears also were converted into tokens of rank; among these the New Zealand sceptres of honour were conspicuous for length and decoration. They vary in shape between staff and paddle, the simplest being cylindrical staves with jagged longitudinal lines. They end in a more or less complicated knob, in the spirals and twists of which may always be detected eyes, or even a human figure.

Axes, pipes, daggers, flutes, are often in no way inferior in ornamentation to these decorative objects, and yet they must have been in use. They show how the whole life and action of Polynesia was imbued in a dignified manner with religious images, symbols, and ceremonies.

In the way of tools we find sharks' teeth set in a wooden handle serving for graving tools, also wooden bows with similar teeth at both ends for use in drawing circles.

Small weapons of sharks' teeth, intended for the cutting up of prisoners, served to gratify the horrible passion for torture; and were also employed in the self-lacerations practised by mourners in token of their grief. Perhaps we should reckon among these the implement made of the sting of a ray, shown below, equally available as file or dagger. Weapons of sharks' teeth reached a fine development in the Society Islands and in Hawaii. The kind of forked sword made from a three-or-four-forked bough of casuarina, and set with these teeth, was regarded as the most terrible weapon. The Berlin Museum possesses a club from Yap, made of the bones of the whale, and set with rays' spines.

The population of the Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands, by consistent progress in this particular direction, acquired a peculiar style in the manufacture of weapons, demanding both industry and dexterity. One might suppose they were a powerful race living in a constant state of war. The fitting of their weapons with sharks' teeth, which were fastened on with strings of coco-nut fibre twisted with human hair, appears like a further development of the weapon found among the Malays, consisting of the saw of the saw-fish. The necessary counterpart to this weapon-making skill is the armour. Closely plaited of string, coarse and thick, this must have been painfully heavy to wear, but was necessary if only to weaken the moral effect of the sharks' teeth. A helmet made from the prickly skin of the Diodon or porcupine fish completed this original equipment.