1. Wooden Club Sword from New Guinea; 2. Paddle from New
Guinea; 3. New Zealand Pattu-Pattu, or Meri; 4. Pattu-Pattu
from the Brazil; 5. Analogous forms; 6. Ditto, ditto; 7–10.
Club Paddles from Polynesia; 11–13. Wooden Spears from Friendly
Islands.]
[Illustration: FIG. 47.—CLUBS OF FIJI ISLANDS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 48.—WOODEN SWORDS AND CLUBS OF BRAZILIAN INDIANS.]
[Illustration: FIG. 49.—PAGAYA, SHARPENED PADDLE.]
[Heading: _THE PADDLE-SWORD._]
The passage of the paddle into the Sword is well shown amongst
the wilder ‘Indians’ of the Brazil. The Tupis still employ the
Tacapé, Tangapé, or Iverapema, which is written ‘Iwarapema’ by Hans
Stade, of Hesse, in the charmingly naïve account of his travels and
captivity.[127] It was a single piece of the hard, heavy, and gummy
wood which characterises these hot-damp regions,[128] and of different
shapes with and without handles.[129] The most characteristic implement
is a long and rounded shaft with a tabular, oval, and slightly-pointed
blade: it was slung by a lanyard round the neck and hung on either
side. With a weapon of this kind the cannibal natives slaughtered Pero
Fernandes Sardinha, first Bishop of Bahia, and all his suite; the
‘martyrs’ had been wrecked on the shoals of Dom Rodrigo off the mouth
of the Coruripe River. The scene is illustrated in the ‘History’ of the
late M. de Varnhagen (p. 321).
A similar Brazilian instrument was the Macaná, still used on the Rio
das Amazonas, and there called Tamarana. It retains the form of the
original paddle, while for offensive purposes the pointed oval head is
sharpened all round. In parts of the Brazil the Macaná was a rounded
club; and the sharpened paddle used as a Sword was called Pagaye.[130]
The Peruvian Macaná and the Callua—the latter compared with a short
Turkish blade—were made of chonta-wood (_Guilielma speciosa_ and
_Martinezia ciliata_) which was hard enough to turn copper tools.[131]
Mr. W. Bollaert[132] tells us that the ‘Macaná was said by some to be
shaped like a long Sword, by others like a club.’ It was both. The
Tapuyas set these broad-headed weapons with teeth and pointed bones.
[Illustration: FIG. 50.—CLUBS.
1–4. Samoa Clubs; 5. Cross-ribbed Club; 6. Toothed Club (Fiji).]
[Illustration: FIG. 51.—PADDLES.
1–3. Spear Paddles; 4, 5. Leaf-shaped; 6. Austral Isles; 7. New
Ireland; 8. African, from Gaboon River; 9. African, from Coast
of Dahome.]
Ojeda, during his famous voyage to Carthagena, found the warlike Caribs
wielding great Swords of palm wood, and the women ‘throwing a species
of lance called _Azagay_.’ General Pitt-Rivers’ collection has a fine
flat Club-Sword, five feet two inches long, straight and oval pointed,
from Endeavour River, Queensland, and a smaller article, about three
feet, with a longer handle, from Australia. Barrow River, Queensland,
has supplied him with a half-curved wooden blade five feet long.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.—SAMOAN CLUB (Godeffroy Collection).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account